Annie Lee and Raeann Koh
Annie Lee:
Majulah Singapura!!!!!!!
Time flies by fast…..
On a quiet night sitting under the stars, watching them twinkle, I suddenly realise that 2021 is almost coming to an end.
Time is precious. Time and Tide wait for no man.
Reminiscing about my growing up years, so many things happened in Singapore - rioting, curfews, flooding, ship Laju and airplane hijacking, etc. Rioting and curfews made a deep memory within me. Living in fear, death come into picture… what if I lost both my parents? I learnt to be strong, Face what may come, Strong family bonding, resilience, peace and harmony. Thank you Government for strong protection.
My ambition was to be a Nurse. Why? Because I always want to care, serve, the frail and the sick. To make them happy, seeing them happy makes me happy. Caring and sharing.
I lived in New York City when the Twin Towers were hit by two planes on 9/11. Lost distance communication, Antenna on top of the Twin Towers collapsed. Plenty of thoughts went through my mind. What if I had not changed my date of visit to the vicinity on that ill-fated morning, I will be dead by now… My close encounter with an injured gunman at entrance at a children hospital in Washington DC. He whipped out a short pistol and pointed it at me. I escaped death. Living in Tokyo, Japan. A big earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on 3/11.
In Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a sudden heavy rainfall with super strong wind in the desert uprooted a dates palm tree and it fell right in front of my house. Man, my life is very precious. It sent me a very strong message that Life is short. Love, care, treasure your family, relatives, friends and be contented of what you have. Tomorrow may not be yours. Every other day, I video call my young grandson, my daughter and son-in-law who lives overseas. Thanks to modernisation and technology, we are able to see each other on video call.
I am very happy to volunteer always serving overseas/Singapore/Marine Parade Community for more than 25 years. Minus my living overseas years and still serving at our MPS, Resident’s Community and other umbrella. Helping those in need and seeing them happy makes me very happy. Never look down on people unless you are looking at their shoes. Also, thanks to my late husband, Andrew Lim, for always giving me all his strong support and encouragement to serve. Without a family’s strong support one cannot do much too.
My motto:
Keep on serving and give back to society while you are able.
Happiness and love is priceless.
God Bless all. God Bless Singapore too.
Shall pass the baton to the next generation…
Raeann Koh:
Earlier, Annie shared about the little things in her life that she loves and cherish - like Singapore (Marine Parade) and her family. As such, I would also like to dedicate my portion of the book to the person I love the most.
每当想起你最爱的人的时候，你脑海是否就会不禁想起这个人？
还记得她胖乎乎的可爱身材，走路也带着有些可爱的晃悠。她一头黑发（她经常染发呵呵），满脸皱纹，眼神却充满着对我的疼爱。这个人是我阿嫲。
还记得那时候年龄还小，我还需要有人照顾，而父母忙于上班赚钱，不待说，我阿嫲自然变成我人生中最重要的人。
我阿嫲，我经常称她为“婆婆”是世界上最好的厨师。她在我们左邻右舍，家人之中都是鼎鼎大名的厨师。（后来我选择读烹饪的最大原因也是因为她。）
她拿手好菜有咖喱鸡，阿萨姆鱼。哎呀。她煮什么都好吃。
放学后的每一天，婆婆一定会准备一桌香喷喷的菜等着我回家吃饭。
我也不能迟到哦！不然的话，过了七点老人家饿了就会自己吃。然后只剩下我孤零零一个人吃饭。（呵呵婆婆你不知道，其实，我也不舍得让你一个人先吃。连想象着你一个人的场面都会让我心碎。）
我与她吃的每个晚餐，心像我捧着的饭碗一样温温的。
婆婆，其实还没来得及跟你说，至今我很珍惜我们每天吃晚餐温暖的时光。虽然我们不需要聊政治或什么超级有营养的东西，有机会的话，我还是愿意再和你吃一顿饭。
随着我长大，我也懵懵懂懂地跨入青春期。
回想起我和她度过的时光，我庆幸我这辈子能够遇到她。从她每天等着我回家一起和她用饭，煮我最喜欢的酸甜午餐肉马铃薯，她的宽容大度，她的慈祥
我学会了什么是爱。
爱这回事，我觉得它是一种人类千万年纠缠不清的情感。是肢体本身捉摸不到，但一旦遇到你就知道。
爱就是茫茫人海中脑海里却只想起你。
而对于我来说，爱是她。
（婆婆，你辛苦了。我再也不想看到你辛苦了，不然的话我会心疼的。多希望你能投胎变成你最喜欢的菊花，而我变成你身边的蝴蝶，下世还是围绕着你。我们一定会有缘再见。）
