Drunk on fun.

My mother’s coming tomorrow!

Finally, after waiting for ages… My mother is coming to Australia to visit me!

Both my mother and my little sister. I wonder how much Charlotte has grown in six months! I can’t believe I’m finally going to get to see them again.

I miss them so much.

My mother - this is so cliched - is not like any other mothers. I don’t know, maybe all mothers are like her, but I like to think that my mother is special.

My mother has utter confidence in me. She makes me feel powerful and as though I can do anything I want and be great at it.

But when I fail, and I come home crying, she gives me a hug and tells me that at least I tried my best, that’s enough.

I remember when I was 15 I had entered a Singapore Youth Festival competition. I was on of the leads in my school’s production of Lord of the Flies. Of which, I’m sure most of you know, (HAHA who am I kidding. No one knows.) the characters are all boys. And the lead I played was Piggy.

I know.

Shut up.

Anyhow. We lost. We got the certificate of participation. We were especially crushed because this was our first effort at a nation-wide contest. I didn’t think that it’d be a big deal to my mother, but she hugged me, told me not to cry and brought me out to shop and have sushi at the mall.

You know what they say, retail therapy!

That day I felt the best I could ever feel, because in taking time out of her busy schedule to bring me out, my mother showed me that even the littlest of things that I did was important to her.

My mother has always given me free rein of my life. Full confidence of what I do and what I want to do. She has never judged me or tried to control me in anyway and for that I am extremely grateful.

She blames herself whenever something goes wrong in either my siblings or my life, she laments that she wished that she could have done better. But I believe she has done the best thing a parent could have done.

To let us, her children, make our own mistakes.

I believe it is important for a child to make mistakes and to learn from them. And though it sometimes takes more than a few years to learn from my mistakes - I’m still learning - I’ll get there eventually. If my mother had controlled every bit of my life, then yes, my mistakes would be hers. But my mother didn’t. She gave us gentle nudges into the right direction, and we learnt from example, but in the end, she let us make our own decisions.

Whether good or bad, I won’t find out till the end of everything. But I seem to be doing pretty decently.

I may not end up a doctor, or a lawyer, but I know I’m on my way to a good career. Most importantly, I know I’m a good person. That is what I learnt from my mother’s example. How to be kind, caring and to never judge someone.

She’s not perfect, my mother, she shops.. a lot. I picked that up from her too. She spends her money on hair and clothes and maintains herself. I try to do that too. Except I’m not drawing the kind of salary that she does. I’m as spendthrift as she is. (but being here in Perth without money, has taught me the value of it.)

I picked up a few flaws too, but mostly, I hope, her virtues.

I love my mother endlessly, and I can’t wait for her to come. I’ve made so many mistakes this semester, and I wish she had been here to pick me up and push me on again. At least, I know that in a few hours time, I’ll be able to hug my mummy and to tell her how much I love her again.