I Whistle a Happy Tune

Though my mother might mask it under an extremely convincing mask of gaiety, I know she still feels the tragic loss of her brothers in Thailand very keenly. Almost ten years ago, both succumbed to fatal illness in surprisingly quick succession leaving a trio of combative consorts and their troubled offspring to survive them. Oh the funeral was quite the scene.

But even back then I could only imagine how very lonely my mother must feel to have been left behind by her brothers, both boon companions of her happy childhood days.

Those halcyon days

So it doesn't surprise me that one of the reasons she frequently insists on making bi-annual trips to Bangkok is to keep an eye on the intrepid exploits of my handful of cousins - perhaps on behalf of her late siblings. Most of the kids were still in school when they passed on - and I sometimes wonder whether they would have turned out differently if their fathers had lived.

The What If scenario. No doubt my mother wonders the same. Maybe the Samaritan would have had more of a spine. Pretty sure my cousin Saffron wouldn't have ended up the office manager for a debt collection agency.

But c'est la vie as they say.

Doesn't mean it's all morbid melancholy at the cemetery when my mother visits though. Recently one of my cousins - the Candystriper - actually gave birth to a daughter who closely resembles my mother. Practically cloned. Point that I can actually prove since I compared her old sepia-toned pics with the new babe's snapshots on a computer for comparison.

With the cherished newborn babe quite as wonderfully jubilant as her name, now that surely gave my mother a reason to whistle a happy tune.

Mother : My brother would have been so happy to see this baby girl. 
Paul : Yeah, I'm sure. 
Mother : Would be good to see yours one day. 
Paul : You already have two grandkids. 
Mother : But not yours. 
Paul : Don't think gay adoption is gonna be legal here anytime soon. 

Good to know where she stands though.