Assalamualaikum.
I thought I'd like to write about my family whom I grew up with during my early childhood days. No, not Mama and Baba >.< When I was a baby and living in Setiawangsa, Mama had to take me with her to work (in Klang yaw, like 50km one-way) in a carry-cot since we had no maid at the time and Baba was always outstation in Johor. Eventually Mama pitied me because she would always have to wake me up for travel and besides, who brings a baby to work? So she decided to leave me in the care of Mak Wok whose house is nearby her office. Thus I've spent the first 5-6 years of my life (with my brother later on) under the care of a nanny (also nursing mother).
I'd have to write a book to have all my memories in that small Klang house put in writing, but here's a snippet. Mak Wok was actually Mama's nanny when the latter was younger, and she had been working for Mama's family as a teenager. I don't know much about the rest of her background though, only the fact that she was a cook at the embassy in....uhm, somewhere during some point in her life. She's an AMAZING cook by the way, which made her the breadwinner of the family after she got married to Ayah Mail and stopped working for my grandmother (at least I think that's how it went). High school friends might remember the pineapple tarts I always brought back after Raya week; those were hers. As a child I remember helping her to either roll out the jam filling or laying out the pastry using the mold for her to fill it in, and I would always grab a chunk of the uncooked pastry and eat it (It's sooooooooooooooooooo good omg, better than the cooked ones. I could eat the whole tub if I wanted to) Sometimes I would help her seal the sides of her plastic containers using this machine where you step on a pedal and it heats the plastic and make the sides stick and all, pretty awesome stuff I thought. Mak Wok's good at cooking savoury dishes too, which is why there is never a single day when she won't be taking orders from customers and cook and more cooking. Her whiteboard is always full of customer requests, dates and other notes 'til this very day.
I can't say much about Ayah Mail though, maybe because I've always spent my time sticking around Mak Wok; but I do know that he was a retired fireman and he got married to Mak Wok when she was still working for my grandmother. He was always the around the house, generally just taking care and played with us. He would also bring us to the nearest mall in his big Volvo and buy us toys and food sometimes. Sometimes he lets my brother and I sleep on his bed, which was always a pleasure since we mostly slept on the floor >.< After I left the house, he started to have heart and kidney problems which forced him to go for regular dialysis treatments and pretty much wasn't able to leave the house anymore :(
........Sadly, he died yesterday :'( It was kind of a shock for me, seeing how I haven't talked to him in months and not knowing how bad his condition has gotten. Mama said it was due to heart failure since the dialysis weakened his heart... Knowing your dad has left you is devastating, but I know Allah sets everything for the best. Everything will return to Him eventually. All I can do now is pray and reflect on my own too :(
Ayah Mail, thanks for being my father. I'll miss you.
A.
