After several months of hiatus from the blogging world, I am reminded of this article I wrote as my second creative and feature writing assignment.
My memory was reeled back to this profile essay as I note down snippets of my message for this Saturday's Youth Impact service.
Read up, stay healthy and blessed, and I'll catch up with you, dear readers, real soon...
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A shrill alert tone reverberates in a quiet room and she picks up her phone. Some ten seconds later, she smiles - shining eyes, giddy-headed and glowing face - and shows me the text. It read, "Goodnight, darling cheesecake. Hugs and kisses. I love you very much."
The
same scene takes place again a couple of nights later down the week. She pushes
the phone to me and motions for me to read the message on the screen. This time
around, it read, "Hello my sweet
papadom. Yeah, I love you lots too. Get a good rest."
I realized
her reason for being head over heels in love with the man. It made me smile just as wide reading them. But,
she tells me that there is more to him than those texts. Before the end of that
sentence, I was already sold. I wanted to get to know the man behind the
'darling cheesecake' and 'sweet papadom' texts.
She
found a comfortable spot, shifts herself in her seat and gestures for me to do
the same.
She
smiles before she even began saying anything. She starts off by telling me how
they met, 23 years ago. He was 30 then.
She
was born and raised in Penang, he wasn't. He was born in Sungkai, Perak. From
the stories she heard from his parents about him, he was a mischievous and
rambunctious young lad; full of energy and zest for life. His family reared
chickens to ease the household expenses and he adored heading to the pen in the
backyard and teased the chicks endlessly. He grew up like any other boy; adventurous,
curious and ready to take on the world. He did well in school, with a belief
for excellence in everything; a principle that he lives up to and carries with him
even till this very day.
In
school, Mathematics and English were his favourite subjects and rightfully so.
His mind was quick to comprehend formulas and adept at problem solving, thus
making Maths a dear friend - one that stimulates his mind and feeds his
inquisitive nature. However, his analytical mind is impeccably balanced with a
flair for language. She chuckles as she regales a conversation she had with him
several months back. "Have you been watching Pride and Prejudice every
single night for seven nights in a row? You, sir, have got issues!", she mockingly
chastised him. His response to her was a quick "Zip it"; brows
furrowed to create an impression of being not amused but his lips couldn't hide
his smile. In spite of his gruff demeanor, he has a soft spot for romance. It
is seen in the authors whom he names as his favourites. They are Jane Austen
and Sidney Sheldon, both accomplished and renowned storytellers of love and
romance.
With
that in mind, I presumably judged that he was also quite the Romeo. Not at all,
she replies. She directed me towards the only woman in this world that he calls
"Dear" and repeats my statement to her. The cherubic-faced woman
laughs heartily. "He is not at all
romantic in person. I wished he wrote me letters melted me to putty. It would
have made our road to the altar a lot faster", she shares with me. What
the love of his life shared with me that afternoon confirmed what I observed
about him. She informs me that he is a man of few words in person, who speaks
only when necessary. A wise man, who sees purpose in all things and who thrives
in gleaning off lessons from what Life brings to his path. She adds, "He may not be the most romantic person
on the face of this earth, but I thank God for giving me him. Above being the
man of his home, he embeds in my heart emotional security and that is the best
gift any man can bestow on a woman."
I turned
to the familiar face and smiled. A man who knew how to treat a woman right. A
man who was a one-woman man. A man who is truly a man of his word, for when he
uttered those five words "till death do us part", it was a vow that
he intended to keep for the rest of his days. His dear wife was right.
The
lass wasn't done. She brought me for an audience with his friends, KS* and MS*,
of whom have more than 20 years of friendship with him under their belt. The
three of them were pioneers of Tabernacle of Praise (TOP), a church they are
rooted in.
By
the time I met the hospitable and generous couple over lunch, I already knew of
his religious beliefs. He is a passionate Christian who loves the Lord with all
his heart.
They
shared with me of the early days of pioneering where there were only a handful
of people. They opened up about how he ferried people who were in need of
transport on his beloved motorcycle and when he could afford a car, he
continued to do the same; the only difference was more people could fit in this
time. He believed in faithfulness and giving his best. It's the only way he
knows how to go about life and when it came to the things of God, the same rule
of thumb was applied.
He
loves playing the guitar (it is seen in the number of guitars he owns - he
acquired two very pricey Taylor acoustic guitars as a treat to himself) and
discovered that he could sing under the mentoring of the Pastor of the church
then, Pr. Vincent Leoh. He took up the invitation to lead worship for Sunday
Services and have not stopped since then. KS* jokes that the both of them were
both scrawny and extremely slim when they first knew each other but unlike him,
Sweet Papadom guy grew to a sizeable proportion. He pauses for a bit and then
mentions with conviction and certainty, "I
have known him for more than 20 years and have served our God with him for
almost as long. He is a man who truly loves the Lord."
The
girl who shared her texts with me and myself, we took a little stroll after the
long day. It was exhausting but from all the stories, quips and anecdotes, we
realised that we both knew the man behind the texts on a deeper level than
before. There were no words needed but when our eyes met, we both knew what the
other was thinking, "What a man. What a life lived. To its fullest."
After
awhile, she had a faraway look in her eyes and when I turned to face her again,
there were tears in her eyes. I looked at her quizzically. She reaches up to
her damp cheeks and wipes off the pearl-shaped tears.
"About
two weeks prior to leaving home, I was feel incredibly emotional. Fear started
setting in. Worry was going on full force. I was reluctant to leave the comfort
of my home," she reveals. He took me into his arms, folded me in his
embrace and said this to me, "Melissa,
we’ve prayed about this and this is God’s leading for your life. I love you
very much, but I know that our Heavenly Father, your Father up in heaven loves you so much more,
more than my love can ever be for you."
Tears
were pooling in my eyes as she recounted her story. It was all starting to
sound very familiar.
I
looked up and into a mirror and I saw her staring right back at me. I dabbed
the gentle trickle down my face and she does the same. I held an identical
phone to hers. I drew the phone closer to my face and read what was on the
screen. It said, ""Hello my
sweet papadom. Yeah, I love you lots too. Get a good rest."
I
inched my finger away from the screen. On it was, "Message sent by:
Daddy".
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*Names have been abbreviated to protect privacy.
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