today, i got elevated to be a "chek-kong" (granduncle)!
ok, this is the story... i was given to an elderly lady for adoption when i was a baby some 43 plus years ago. this was because a fortune teller predicted i would to be a difficult baby to upbring and advised my mum to give me to an elderly woman for adoption. the criteria for this elderly woman was that she must have many children. and that was exactly what my mum did. she asked my kampong landlord to help look for such a person and was eventually introduced to an elderly lady who lived in pipit road. to formalize this relationship, we went through the full ceremony of adoption complete with taoist prayers and offerings to the heavens and earth. that was how i came to have more than 5? 6? 7? (i really don't know) godbrothers and 1 godsister in addition to my own siblings. since then, i would fulfil my duties as a godson and visit my godmum regularly. the last time i met the whole extended family was more than a decade ago when my godmum passed away. i went through the whole funeral rites as a godson.
i lost contact with all of them after my godmum's funeral.
today, after so many years, i met my eldest godsister-in-law, her son and her grandson. it happened while i was walking around parkway parade in the evening after my chiropractic treatment. it was kinda sudden but there they were, facing me. i recogised them on the spot and i called out to the son. he still looked very much the same. by protocol, he was actually my godnephew. but we were more like brothers due to our small age gap (he is 6 years my junior)! anyway, seeing them again after so long, it was kinda funny. he called me by my name while i addressed his mother as ah-soh (sister-in-law in hokkien). it felt weird. hahaha... and to complicate the matter, he (my godnephew) introduced the little boy to me as his nephew (his brother's son). and almost by instinct, he asked the little boy to call me uncle. i stood and thought for a while... and i corrected him - no, he should call me granduncle... and then we laughed. his mother (my ah-soh) also nodded her head and said the boy should call me "chek-kong"! hahaha... this sound so weird!
anyway, it was good to see them. we exchanged numbers, addresses and so on. and we updated each other about our lives (my dad's demise, my mum's living with my brother now, etc etc etc)... i think i will bring my mum to visit them sometime very soon!
:-)
ok, this is the story... i was given to an elderly lady for adoption when i was a baby some 43 plus years ago. this was because a fortune teller predicted i would to be a difficult baby to upbring and advised my mum to give me to an elderly woman for adoption. the criteria for this elderly woman was that she must have many children. and that was exactly what my mum did. she asked my kampong landlord to help look for such a person and was eventually introduced to an elderly lady who lived in pipit road. to formalize this relationship, we went through the full ceremony of adoption complete with taoist prayers and offerings to the heavens and earth. that was how i came to have more than 5? 6? 7? (i really don't know) godbrothers and 1 godsister in addition to my own siblings. since then, i would fulfil my duties as a godson and visit my godmum regularly. the last time i met the whole extended family was more than a decade ago when my godmum passed away. i went through the whole funeral rites as a godson.
i lost contact with all of them after my godmum's funeral.
today, after so many years, i met my eldest godsister-in-law, her son and her grandson. it happened while i was walking around parkway parade in the evening after my chiropractic treatment. it was kinda sudden but there they were, facing me. i recogised them on the spot and i called out to the son. he still looked very much the same. by protocol, he was actually my godnephew. but we were more like brothers due to our small age gap (he is 6 years my junior)! anyway, seeing them again after so long, it was kinda funny. he called me by my name while i addressed his mother as ah-soh (sister-in-law in hokkien). it felt weird. hahaha... and to complicate the matter, he (my godnephew) introduced the little boy to me as his nephew (his brother's son). and almost by instinct, he asked the little boy to call me uncle. i stood and thought for a while... and i corrected him - no, he should call me granduncle... and then we laughed. his mother (my ah-soh) also nodded her head and said the boy should call me "chek-kong"! hahaha... this sound so weird!
anyway, it was good to see them. we exchanged numbers, addresses and so on. and we updated each other about our lives (my dad's demise, my mum's living with my brother now, etc etc etc)... i think i will bring my mum to visit them sometime very soon!
:-)
2 comments:
i'll stick with "Ah PeK, Ah Pek"
feel better?
haha.... not senior enough to be addressed as ah pek lor... :-)
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