Mothers, Fathers, Cousins. Past Pearls that Define our Present - Pictures Tell Stories

80. The Pearls of the Present

The present

Is a time

Judge by a past

That preceded it,

And a future

That will follow.

By itself,

It has no meaning,

Being a shell,

Empty and hollow.

The pearls, my friends

Must be sought

Elsewhere!

In a previous posting, your sinner (that's me) referred to an old mystic saying that everything is known by its opposite. And I got into a lukewarm water because I also said that God is also known by His opposite. But let us not use what little time is left for a theological debate in the actual meaning of some words. I just wanna say that the same saying also applies for the present. As the prose above records.

This is simply my (typically) round about way to introduce some old pictures I temporarily nicked from my dad's cabinet... It is whimsical and I put no store as to any profound spiritual significance. These are a couple of pictures and polaroids of my past. And I just wanna share them with you...

This is my late mum circa 1985 I think. She bought me a Polaroid  camera in Singapore when

we went there on holiday. I laid an ambush by our gate just as she was traipsing up our driveway.

That radio suggests that she was doing some dancin' and twirlin' beforehand. She loved dancing, especially

the traditional Malay dances with her group of old friends in the numerous associations and

charitable societies that she was a member of. My mother hated doing nothing. 

She was always doing something.

This is my cousin whom I call Abang Shem (abang means brother), also
circa 1985. His real name is Zaid, so really I don't know how Zaid became 'Shem'. He is
one of my many cousins who stayed with us at some point in their lives. He used to scare the willies out of me -
I put the blame on that bushy mustachio. Here he is seen with his first love - an old Ford Escort which he lovingly
nursed from disrepair to err... disrepair. I had to drive that car once, and let me tell you that it took real skill to keep the car on the road. He is married now with 3 kids and his eldest girl will  get married very soon. How time flies...

This is Azwan, also another cousin. But this picture is circa 1988 maybe. I recall this because I took
this picture with a Pentax SLR which I purchased when I was in 'A' Levels college. He stayed with us for some
time, but for my life I cannot remember whether he was working or studying. What I do recall is that at that point
he was dating a girl, whose name I will intentionally forget. I had little experience with girls before college, but Azwan sometimes unburden his romantic problems on his younger cousin. I remember finding a cassette tape and hearing
a familiar voice talking. The voice was going on and on about Ms. X. Hehehe - It was  in fact Azwan, and
for some strange, strange reason he decided it was a good idea to record his woeful recounting of his romance on
tape. Maybe he found sharing his love dilemmas with me somewhat unsatisfying. I couldn't have been much help.

I must have been about 15 or 16, I think. I don't know how and why, but damn if I can feel how that
red and white stripe t-shirt felt even now. It must be night time because I was also wearing my 'kain pelikat'. I like
this picture because it catches me smiling at my mother. For the 32 years she was in my life, she and my father gave
me a whole lot of reasons to smile. Even to this day.
I think mums are special and awesome. And it is an honour and a
privilege that I was able to be in her life. I think we all feel that way about our mothers, yes?

I am happy to have such pearls of the past defining my present now... God bless all cousins, fathers and mothers.

Have a bright and bountiful day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.