oldish mumsy

you know you're old when...

1) you get invited to your former students' wedding.
2) your former students become parents.

this weekend, it hit me squarely in the face when i bumped into kleiser at serangoon gardens on saturday. i taught this dude in 2003-2004 and he was an "overly-sunbaked" athlete: national junior tennis player, semi-pro (i think) footballer and he probably dabbled in a dozen other sports too.

now he's 26, has less time to exercise (which accounts for the extra weight on his face and roundish middle), works at astons as a group area manager (or something like that) and is going to be a FATHER in a few weeks' time!

ah...it gets better. his 21-year-old wife and i visit the same obstetrician, dr lim yuin wen.

it kinda freaked me out a little there. but i'm happy he's doing well. plus, the next time i visit astons at SG, i may not have to wait too long for my food...;)

that very same evening, i was invited to attend feroz and huiqin's wedding dinner at aranda country club at pasir ris. their sweet love story began at the previous school i taught in, and they even visited me in the hospital when my second daughter was born!

i'd initially wanted to bring my 3 girls for occasion, but the hub's family decided last minute (on saturday afternoon itself) to have a gathering at our home. i was torn between attending the wedding and staying home as the hub had volunteered to cook. in the end, i decided to bring baby wei along but told the hub to keep some food for me.

the hub drove us to the country club - wen came for the ride as well. the initial plan was that i'd stay for a bit, hand them the present and red packet, and go home. but it was difficult to pull away because i really wanted to stay and catch up with my former students who were there. so the hub left with wen while i remained with wei.

and yes, it was a reunion of sorts with the-once-kids-turned-adults. many were fresh from secondary school when i first met them. a few continued with their studies after the diploma and the rest joined the working world. now in their early to mid 20s, most of these ladies and gentlemen are faring well in their chosen professions. their amazing transformations moved me and i was really proud to see them all "grown up" and successful.

it was a lovely buffet-style dinner but it was unfortunate that i couldn't stay too long as i'd to rush home to the kids, so i left close to 9pm. and i have no pictures to post either although my former students were trigger-happily snapping away...i'll just ask them to email me the digital shots.

ah.

i'm getting old indeed.