Mom

I was born in a humble and modest family.
I would say we might be poor in belongings/possessions, but we are rich in heart.

My father was a writer. A drama script writer. Not a big / famous one, though. Actually, you can say that he was an unemployment, because he only wrote when there were orders. And the order weren't often. Luckyly, he could do some reflexology massage. So at some or other times, people would use his service. But the money was very small.
My mom is a full-time housewife and a very good mother.
I had a big brother, Wisynu (now 33) and little sister Dayu (now 27).

We spent our childhood very happily in used to be a slum area of Jakarta.
It was so much fun!


And so... although we only stayed in rental houses (we still do now ) and moved several of times, rarely had decent foods to eat (there were those times when we only able to ate rice with salt, or rice with chili sauce, or made the rice into porridge), we were happy.

Because Mom, being very intelligent, creative, patient and devoted as she is, always made us feel that it was such an adventure!

And we never asked too much or complaining (we never complain or sulk for any toys or clothes or anything) - because she gave us the understanding and explained to us about the situations.

Other than that, she is a good cook, so we always find our foods to be delicious, and she would sew our clothes from left-over materials and made cool clothes for us...

She puts in us the principles of good manner, kindness, honesty, truthful, respect and tolerance through bed time stories which she knew from her Mom, or the ones she created herself.

She tought us about fairness and sharing by dividing everything the same for all of us (for the kids and also for the parents). If we got one piece of cake, then we would get each smaller pieces of the cake. If we got fruits, Mom would divide them so that each of us would get the same amount and size of the fruits. So none of us would be unhappy or dissatisfied.

She tought us creativity through her cook, or her sewing. Always able to find ways - using the available materials (no matter how limited they are) and made them into masterpiece...

She tought us about appreciation.
Mom always says that your words and manners are very important.
We should say 'thank you' to anyone who does something for us - no matter how small it is to show them our appreciation and respect.

There was once that my brother came to our house with dirt all over his feet, and made the whole floor dirty with mud. It was because he brought back wild flowers from plants which grew in the middle of a swamp nearby our place.
My Mom did not angry at all to him, despite the fact that she must do the sweeping and the mopping all over again.
Instead, she took the flowers, put them in a vase, kissed him and said 'thank you', and clean him.
"Always appreciate the good intentions behind, although it appears not pretty"

We should say 'sorry' to anyone if we make any mistake. Saying 'sorry' for our mistakes is not a weakness. It is a strength instead. We must always try not to hurt others' feelings.

She never laughed at our ideas when we were kids - no matter how silly it was, and she always supported them.

I remember one day, I thought I had this brilliant idea! - the invention of the century!
I found that by walking with one of our hand spinning (big round spins) - will make us move faster...
I told Mom about it, and she walked with her hand spinning, all the way across the street until I couldn't see her again as she turned.
I was soo.. proud of myself at that time... Now to think of it again, it was soooo damn silly! hahahahahah.

But I think it was because of that (her supports towards our ideas) which make us not afraid of speaking our minds or giving our ideas.

She tought us loyalty, sacrifice and devotion as well as obedience by being a pure housewife despite of her desire to continue her study and get a career - simply because my father said no. As he believes that the role of a wife is within the house - to take care of the family. (well, I may have different opinion about this, but I still appreciate her decision)

She tought us love towards our home land (especially the land of West Java) by singing us traditional songs before we went to bed, or at any occasions we are together - and she has angelic voice too...

She can also be very much fun, not being a traditional mother. She always try to understand what is happening. She likes to joke and irritating us (in a fun way!).
When we were kids, she did things like: hiding and surprising us, drawing a face on my brother's bald head when he was a baby... hahahahahah

She is basically our friend.
That's why you may notice that we would have girls' day out (either the three of us go out together, or only me and her, or Dayu with her) to movies or performances and dining out afterwards.
And this is why there is no secrets between us because we are friends.
And it is better for her that we let her know anything because that means we appreciate her - taking her as 'insider'.

All and all, she has major role in shaping us as we are right now.
On how we see life, and how we interact.
We could never do enough for her - as we owe her our lives.
Her happiness, is one of my goals in life...