[Yew Family Blog] Mother Celebrated Her 88th Birthday

[Peter Yew]

On August 3 we celebrated mother's birthday. It was a double eight, an auspicious number to the Chinese, and I told mother we'll do it bigger than last year. We had eight tables and Tony came back from the States with Ai King, John and son, Anthony, who is 17 years old, a strapping and lanky teenager still sporting long hair but more vocal and sociable than before. They arrived 3 days earlier so had sufficient time to settle down and recover from jet lag fatigue.

This time around mother let the entire oganization to be handled by us children. As she grows older she has resigned to the fact that her ability to handle such affairs has diminished. In fact since the beginning of the year she has shut herself more indoor and kept herself to her bed unless she need to go to the bathroom. In other word she has become more reclusive but her mind is still active without signs of severe memory losses.

The birthday dinner was held at the Restoran Happy, the same one where she celebrated her 86th birthday. We thought it was better than Restoran Bei King both food and ambience wise. Out of the 8 tables families and relatives took over 5 tables and the rest offered to mother's church, the Pioneer Methodist Church, pastor, Rev. Liew, to round up her close friends.

Mother could not walk as well as before, partly due to weakness and lack of exercises, so had to be held up and walked slowly to her seat. She requested that if she survive to her next birthday, to celebrate at home. We concurred. The house that was vacant since she moved into the Moonlight Old Folks Centre in May was cleaned up a few weeks before Tony and mother return to stay. Mother was assured that on major holidays when we return to visit her we will bring her back from the Centre to stay in her own home on her own bed. She has adapted to the Centre's environment and willingly goes back. Below is a collection of the dinner celebration and some family pictures taken at home before we left for the Restoran.

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Posted By Peter Yew to Yew Family Blog at 8/13/2013 10:17:00 PM