Christmas presents

When baby Day's daddy zoomed home from work tonight on his motorbike, later than usual, dangling from the bike handlebars were two plastic bags.

For a man who had once given an ex-girlfriend a tin of butter cookies for her birthday, seldom bothers with important dates and never gave his wife (me!) an engagement ring, the last thing I expected to find in those bags were Christmas Presents. But they were.

He, a crowd-hater, had battled the shoppers in a shopping centre to find stuff for us. Nonchalantly swinging the bags, he pronounced: I got something for you and Day. Me? Too??

Thrilled, I quickly turned on the twinkling Christmas lights on the tree. Out came two gift-wrapped (I can't believe it) boxes. Tearing the paper off mine, I discovered a pair of Nike shorts. Not the stuff of romantic legend, but infinitely useful because I keep pilfering his.

Proceeding to tear the wrapping off baby Day's present, we (me and Day) discovered a Barney Dinosaur handphone! Baby Day took an instant fancy to it because he has a thing for handphones. He later drank his milk rather half-heartedly as his eye was on the phone.

It's funny but for the first time I think I begin to see what our little family unit means to baby Day's daddy (clearly a man of few words). And I am profoundly touched.

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Celebrating KK's life

This blog is dedicated to Loh Kar Kheng, known to his friends as KK or Kheng. He died unexpectedly on Thursday, 21st October 2021, in an accident. He was a Professional Engineer who loved his job, an inspiring coach and mentor, a passionate and gifted sportsman, a leader, a biker, a dedicated father. In the years from 2004 to 2017, I maintained a family blog. These extracts celebrate his life. They capture his resilience and drive, overcoming the odds, to become a top-notch engineer (he just won a BCA award 3 weeks before he died, for his work on the new State courts - stories here and here ), his sporting passions and his love for his children. The blog goes hand-in-hand with a memorial page here . If you have a story about what he said, what he did, if he inspired you or what you remember of him, do leave it there. It would mean a lot to us. Thank you so much. Love, KK's family

The conclusion?

Finally, today, 16 months after his death, I receive the police investigation report and Coroner's Certificate for KK's death in my inbox. Apart from a few small things, this would be the last chapter in the book of things I have to settle. The findings do not tell me anything. I have bolded the main conclusion. Extracts from it: Further investigations revealed that around 11.00 a.m. on 21 October 2021, Mr Loh had texted his friend inviting him to go for a kite surfing session together. Later that afternoon, at about 1.30 p.m., they met up at the west side of Bedok jetty beach front and prepared their equipment. They had set off separately, with Mr Loh's friend starting his kite surf first, followed shortly after by Mr Loh on his hydrofoil board. That was the last time the friend saw Mr Loh. As they were surfing separately, the friend had assumed that Mr Loh decided to surf far down west and did not take further notice of him. At the material time, there were also other f

Steak dinners

A month passes. We are doing fine. The kids will forever associate KK with steak dinners, on Sunday nights. Day takes over. He tosses the steaks into KK's beloved cast-iron pan, bastes it furiously with butter. Fries up some mushroom sauce, the way his Papa used to. Its either too rare, or slightly over. "Can you buy good steaks which are of even thickness? I can't cook it evenly if its thin one side and thick the other," Day scolds. We have dinner with KK. The kids giggle. They usually end off with Don Don Donki-quality sweet potatoes in the oven toaster. I'll get those potatoes next time.

Stories of KK

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