Taste of life

Mrs Lim Childhood

To say life had been really bad for Mrs Lim was an understatement of the year. She and her siblings had been left behind by their mama when they were very young. Mrs Lim at that time age 5 live with her older sister age 10, an older brother age 9, a younger sister age 3 and their papa. They had to walk miles and miles to reach the hospital where their beloved mama was when she was ill as they could not afford a bus fare even though it does not cost a lot.  

Life had become such a challenge for those little children when their mama died as they could not afford to pay for the operation fees. Her older sister got to give up her childhood at the aged of 10 to shoulder on the responsibility when their mama left. Life had been a bugger as they never got enough food on the table with the very little income from their papa's job. 

 If you think life is hard enough for those poor little children than you are wrong as their papa collapsed one day while working three years later. His co worker bring his body home as they cannot even afford to bring him to the hospital. When he reach home, all his children gather around him for the very last time to say their farewell. Their papa leave the responsibility of the whole household on his oldest daughter shoulder.  

 Although they are really sad with losing the last adult in the family, they still keep on a brave front. They got to stick together and be strong in order to keep the wolves from their front door. The two oldest siblings start working to earn a living while Mrs Lim known as Yew g**k stayed at home to look after her youngest sister Yee. 

 A lot of their neighbours chip in from time to time to keep them going. They also gives them their children outgrown old clothes which is very generous of them as times are hard even for the one with adults at home.  Ten years later, they have all grown up and are more able to provide a better life at home. Then the day come when they all drifted apart as their brother gets married and moved out leaving all his sisters behind. 

His new bride could not get along with his sisters and always created a scene whenever she got a chance so his sisters assured him to moved out and built up his life with his wife without them at the background. With his sisters encouragement and persuasion he eventually moved out. His wife got pregnant straight after the move and all his sisters are really happy for him. Two years later, their big sister found the love of her life. Mrs Lim and her youngest sister Yee are very happy for her as she had been sacrificing her whole life providing and looking after them so they are really pleased for her when she said she is getting married end of the month. 

They are really busy preparing whatever they could afford to make her sister's day as memorable as possible. The wedding goes smoothly and she moved into her new husband's house soon after the ceremony. Now that only leave two of them. They are very content with their life until one day, Yee announced that she got a man she loved and would like to get married soon. Of course it is sad for them to let their little baby go as she is the youngest in the family but there are nothing they could do except to give her their blessings. 

 All now leave behind was Mrs Lim herself. She did get married three years later but her life did not turn any sweeter. Maybe for the first few years of her marriage as she got a very loving and kind husband. Her husband pampered and loved her with all his heart. He got a busy life as a sales assistant in a car dealer shop. His earning is pretty decent so he is able to provide as best as he could for Mrs Lim. Mrs Lim is happily married with two beautiful daughters age two and one. They bring them both lots of happiness and joy with their own antics.  

 Until one day, Mrs Lim found out that she is pregnant again with their third child. They are over the moon when they found out that it's a boy. All Chinese believed that they need to have a son to inherited their name down the line. But the unexpected always happened when you are at your peak of happiness. When people said prepared for rainy days, they really meant it that way.

While Mrs Lim is at her final stage of her pregnancy, the weather just broke and rain poured down mercilessly for three days and three nights until all the lower ground had been flooded in that village.  It had been raining endlessly and all the people on that village had to moved to higher ground or shelter till the flooding goes down. As her husband is working at the car dealer shop he is required to moved all the vehicles to the safer ground so he and his co worker work tirelessly to get that done. 

 But unfortunately that is the last time Mrs Lim talk or see her husband alive as that night while moving the vehicles he step on a broken bridge and the current of the flood water was so strong that it swept him off his feet into the river. His co-worker saw him and tried to rescue him but unfortunately the current was too strong and quick. Before they know it he went under and never be seen again until three days later. 

Mrs Lim stayed up all night waiting for his return but he never did. Three days later they found him under a pile of debris after the flooding had subsided. They bring his body home and that shattered her. Her whole life came tumbling down with what lay in front of her. She could not believe her eyes when she saw him lying there motionless.

They were living a happy life even though not a rich one but why bad things always happen to her when she start thinking that God had been kind to her after all? She had been staring at his corpse for the next two days not believing why oh why God need to be this cruel to her. How is she going to cope from now on without her husband with two daughters and one son waiting to come out into this cruel world without even a chance to meet his daddy? She start to feel that is the end for all of them until her eyes landed on her daughters and her huge tummy. 

She made a vow to herself that she will be strong for the sake of her children. They said their farewell that night and Mrs Lim sat by his side the whole night. The neighbours start coming over after they heard the news to support the young mum. They help her prepared him for the funeral even though it would not be much as in her condition she would not be able to afford to splash out.

The neighbours are very helpful and supportive throughout the whole time. It is a blessing as in a small community they tend to chip in and help anyone in needs. That is the spirit of a small community, even though they got plenty to cope on their plate too. As the flood had damaged everyone's property it will take a long time for everybody to clean and tidy their house again but they put that behind to help Mrs Lim first. 

 After the funeral Mrs Lim give birth to her son in the local hospital. He weight 10kg which is a bit heavy but he is a very solid and beautiful baby. Mrs Lim discharged herself and bring him home the next day as they could not afford the hospital bills. While in the hospital giving birth her daughters went and stay with their next door neighbour and they are very excited to see their baby brother and mama the next day. 

Mrs Lim spend the next two weeks confinement period at home with the help of their neighbour even though it meant to be four weeks at least instead of two but she could not afford the time wasting without earning.

Two weeks later, Mrs Lim started a noodles store just down the road from her house. She is very brave and talented in cooking so the venture count as successful with her creative mind in cooking. She can produce a different variety and flavour of noodles everyday so she can attract a lot of customers. She work very hard from early in the morning till way past midnight everyday in order to provide for her children.  

She meet a man few years later that came to the noodle store every single day. He is one of the regular customer there. He is interested with her as she is young and beautiful and also very capable in running her store and look after her children which is a bonus. Few months later she gets warm up to him as he came everyday so she let her guard down. A woman on her own with so much responsibility is very vulnerable in mind so it is very easy prey and easily be taken advantage on.  

One lonely night she let her guard down and surrender to her needs with him on a one night stand. What she forgot is the consequences that entail after that night. She fell pregnant with her fourth child which is a beautiful princess but unfortunately for her, he left without a trace once he know she is pregnant. What a mess did she get herself into with just one reckless night? Does it even worth the sacrifice to follow just for a night? 

She got no answered to those questions as life have to go on no matter what throws at you. What she can do is to brave herself and suffer the consequences as there will be another mouth to feed soon. But that does not make her love her daughter any less as it is no fault of her. So into the world she came one night when the weather is calm and breezy. 

A very beautiful princess as an addition  to their little family. It is a very joyous moment for all but that also means that she will have to work extra hard in order to support them. Two years passed in a breeze before the third man in her life appeared. 

He is very persistent in pursuing her even though he know she got four kids already. She is a little bit unsure this time but her best friend told her she cannot lead a lonely life just because of her four children. So after consideration she decided to accept him into her life. She get pregnant straight away with her fifth child which is a princess as well. 

The pregnancy went well and she gave birth 10 months later. Another call for celebration. She gave birth to two more children after that another little princess and lastly a prince so it make it a total of five girls and two boys. Life had been up and down as he is not the type to work hard to provide for them but the other way round. She lost all hopes on counting on him but she counts her blessings everyday for all the children that comes into her life. He might not be someone you can rely on for your happiness but he did his contribution on producing three children for her. 

 Life pretty much goes on like usual for the next few years until one day he found someone who can give him a luxury life without working that he craved and he just walk out of their life without returning leaving behind a woman with seven children. How heartless can one be? 

You will think Mrs Lim and her children will all be devastated but unfortunately for him that is not the case. All of them celebrated that night with smiles on their faces which can tell you exactly how they have been living their life for the past few years and how much they endure it to go to this extend of a satisfaction of knowing that this man had walk out and never to return. They all resume their life with bounces on their feet and less stress and burden to carry.  

Until one day there was a couple from their local church visiting their home. Those couple only have one child and could not have anymore children on their own. They know Mrs Lim is not actually financially stable to provide a good life for her children so they proposed that they would like to adopt her fourth child ( the one that conceive on her one night stand fling- Nancy).

They promised her that they will provide Nancy all the materialistic things that she will need like shoes, clothes, toys and many more things that she could not afford to give previously and also a promise to go and study oversea. Nancy at that time should be around 7 years old and she looks so fragile just like a porcelain doll. Very pretty and fragile looking. Mrs Lim does not like their ideas at all and told them to leave as she is not giving up her daughter . Even thought she is poor she won't just give her child away like any unwanted items. 

But Nancy heard the whole conversation behind the closed door and told Mrs Lim that she wanted to follow them and stay with them. Any mother would be heart broken when they heard that coming out from their daughter's mouth. She sat there in a shock for many hours and cried. Very sad and pitiful when your child decided they are better off living with strangers than their birth mother and half siblings.

What could she do other than asked her child again if that is what she really wished as this will determined her future. Nancy knows she won't get anything if she choose to stay but she will definitely get more if she chooses to go. Even at such young age Nancy is determined to make something out of herself so Mrs Lim decided to follow her wishes and let her go with them.

When the couple come to collect Nancy, they informed Mrs Lim to break all contact with her in order to let her settle in really quick . Mrs Lim cannot do anything else except to comply with their wishes. With heavy heart she let her little princess go hopefully to a very bright life and future ahead of her. Soon after Nancy left, Mrs Lim moved to a very rural village far away from all the heartbreak. 

She found a little house to fit them all in. The eldest daughter ( Sherley ) graduated and start working in a bank and earned  a decent amount of money to keep them going. She is a very strong will and minded child among the rest of the siblings. She always study hard and strive to do her best in everything that she encounter.  Maybe this is one of a must have attitude when you are the first born. Always able to stay strong and protect your parents and siblings if needed be. She fell in love with a fellow church member and going on a steady date for a couple of years.   

 Her second daughter ( Jessie ) grows up to be very tall and beautiful and found a job at the airlines and become a stewardess. She is living her dream life flying from one place to another. She moved away from Mrs Lim at a young age as well to live with her grandparents. Her grandparents demand to keep her when the found out that their son drowned in the river. 

They blamed Mrs Lim for their lost so in order to not upsetting them any further she let her second daughter go and stay with her grandparents. They treat her really well and provide a stable and comforting life for her throughout her whole childhood. Even though she went to stay with her grandparent she still keep in touch with Mrs Lim. Of course over the years they are not that close anymore and drifted apart compare to the one that live with her. 

But that is life for you. You cannot expect too much or else you will end up suffering. Jessie also found the love of her life not long after she start working. Life could not be any better than that.

Meanwhile her beautiful boy (K K) work for a company that produce dairy products. A bit of a hard work loading and unloading the van for delivery but their life are full of promises of a brighter future. Now that they are all grown up they are able to help and support the family and Mrs Lim. He is very kind hearted and gentle and always go with the flow. 

Always agreeable and aim to please just to get a peaceful life. A little layback in my opinion but there you go, what can we expect. Definitely not the same mould for everyone that is for sure. He work hard from morning till late afternoon and then meet up with his friends. They preferred to go fishing in their spare times which takes a lot of patience. And he meet a woman that is going to change his life forever.

The youngest three children are still at school. Jen is the fifth child , Ann is the sixth child and KS is the last baby of the family. Mrs Lim starts taking in commercial sewing which can be done at home while doing house chores and look after the younger ones and still earning a decent amount of income.  Life at least is looking up on them with everyone grown up and are able to work and help around the house. 

Jen is helping Mrs Lim with the bulk sewing as she is one of the talented child that are able to look, observed and get it done at a very young age. That help taking a lot of pressure from Mrs Lim as Jen can get all the bits done and leave the hard ones to Mrs Lim. They had been sewing for many years and very content with their life's as it is a very stable live even though not a luxury one but still much more better that before. They always go to church at the weekend and always remember to pray and count their blessings every night. 

Jen like to help with all the sewing and also the chores at home. Her temperament is a bit mild but never messed with her family or you are going to faced the worst time of your life. Jen gave up school at the age of 15 due to unforeseen circumstances. 

 Ann is the smartest of all Mrs Lim children. She is very intelligent and stubborn at the same time. She always work hard and be the best of the best. Her character is so strong that it is a force to be recognised for. Ann's academic achievement always shine and no one can beat her in her score. Always number one in everything she does. She finished her studies and become an accountant that leads her to a comfortable life. Very fortunate for her that she found her other half that is always strive for perfection too. What else could we expect from perfectionist.  

 Lastly is KS the apple of the family. Been the most naughtiest and the most mischievous since the day he was born. He always gets into trouble at school with all his little antics. Always skipped school if he manage to squeeze himself out of it. Even though he is the most mischievous one, he definitely has his brain with him.