Working Together Was Good Fun

Last week, a friend hired David and I to help out at his company's first year anniversary party. David was hired as official photographer for the event and I was hired to entertain guests with my tarot reading.

I am not sure who had more of a blast. My friend, David or me. It was our first experience of working together at an event, and we had so much fun doing it because we were both always looking out for each other.

David and I often get invited to help out at projects like these, but we have never been invited as a couple on the same project. He would get invited for photography shoots at rock concerts, company events, personal profile shots of friends and their families and I often get invited to read my tarot cards at birthday and hen parties, company events as well as charity events. And strangely, we had never thought to go into projects together. So this experience was an eye opener.

For my friend's event, we had already visited the event venue a few days prior to establish the setting and environment we were going to be at. This allowed David to plan the type of equipment he was going to be bringing along with the right camera he was using. It also allowed me to "feel" the space and make a mental note of where my querants could get the appropriate privacy to get a reading with as little interference as possible while allowing me ease of managing a queue. David and I also had a discussion about the lighting and it's impact on our respective areas of work.

I have to say, David's dedication was amazing. He had spent an entire day before rushing through back to back meetings in Kuala Lumpur and had just arrived a couple of hours before the event to check out the venue again and sort out his equipment in preparation for the event.

At the event, as the crowds streamed in and we were both just consumed with taking the photos and doing the readings, we often checked on each other. I was worried that the venue's dim lighting will affect the quality of the photos whereas he was worried that I wouldn't be able to cope with the crowd as the queue list at the tarot table was very long.

Joel did his bit as well. He was our "roadie". He helped to carry, my easel, my Sun Goddess Tarot poster, and the camera equipment. He also helped managed the queue at the photography wall and in between that, he came over to check on me and got me a drink to salve my parched lips.

It was an extremely busy night for the both of us but we enjoyed it tremendously because it gave us the opportunity to watch out for each other and we were probably each other's best critique. He reminded me in between readings to take a 5 minute breather to do a "download"( it was essential for me to do a grounding meditation for a few minutes in between client readings to dispel residual negative energies before I start reading for a new batch of clients) and I reminded him to create different and more interesting angles for the shots at the photography wall. Even after the event, I played Art Director to his digital imaging work on the photos....sometimes to his annoyance.

David and I are proof that working on a project together as a couple is extremely fulfilling. That may have given us a vision for our retirement years and it certainly looks promising.

About The Writer:


The writer of this blog post is a 43 year old mother of one, who spreads her time between her day job as a marketeer at a financial institution, her hobby as a certified professional tarot reader and numerologist, and her family which includes a 19 year old son.

Being Happy With What I Have

Over the weekend, a friend had asked me why I had stopped blogging at http://thecrazyangmoandhisangrywife.blogspot.com. I assured her that I had not, but was consumed with such a busy schedule that I haven't had much time to even log on to Blogger. I checked myself at that point and logged on to Blogger to view my activity profile. I haven't been blogging everyday, but I have been moderately active with my blog entries, particularly at http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com lately. I have been running 2 blogs, the first is http://thecrazyangmoandhisangrywife.blogspot.com which was set up for the purpose of detailing my family's quirky exploits. The second is http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com which was set up this year, when I built an ardent passion for the art of tarot reading and became a certified professional tarot reader. The latter was a platform I used to detail my exciting journey with tarot.

Bouncing between the 2 blogs was easy initially because the 2 most important areas of my life, family/work and tarot had for a long time sat in separate realms, with the latter forced in its space by the skepticism of family and friends, conjoined only by the jubilation brought by sporadic demonstrations of acceptance from my husband. Lately however, it has become just a little bit more difficult to separate the 2 areas of my life because the "crazy angmo", the not so angry wife, her "Addams' family" and some of her loonie friends have finally come to accept that like my playing the piano, my interest in "non-mainstream" classical music ( specifically Bela Bartok and Smetana), and my love for the "game of the Gods", rugby ( still in love with the game though age and fitness prevents me from continuing to play the game), the tarot has become a key driver of my happiness. So honestly, I shouldn't be afraid of mentioning anything about my world of tarot in my first blog.

A-ha! There you go, I just admitted it unwittingly. I was quite afraid to mention anything about tarot in my blog http://thecrazyangmoandhisangrywife.blogspot.com I have been keeping the subject matters within both blogs quite separate. And you know, I am tired from using my "non-accepting friends and family" as a convenient excuse. In truth, I am still a spectator to an internal war being waged between my rational mind and my intuitive skills. I have detailed some of these challenges in my tarot blog recently. I have been managing this war by wading through my mood swings, hurling into a hermit-like world of expansive studying of more esoteric works and constantly questioning concepts and ideas in my head, with only my fellow tarot-reading friends and mentors within the international tarot community and in Singapore, holding my hand through it all.

I forgot however, that I have got very special people in my life, formerly parked in the "crazyangmo..." world, who have equally, been holding my hand, in their individual ways, throughout this battle within me. Numerologically, my life path number is a 7. I am naturally deign to constantly questioning and seeking truths, discovering new ideas and learning new things. My birthday number of 1, governs my egoistic personality who tend to tread the barren path alone without asking for help. Therefore, as I deal with my growing intuitive skills, the turmoil in my head sends me into a spiral that buries me deep within the cave for fear of being laughed at, for fear of being questioned, for fear of making a mistake on any of my consultations with any of my clients, for fear of generally mixing my "irrational" intuitive skills with my "rational" skills as a marketeer, wife and mother.

Lately, I have begun noticing that my intuitive skills are growing even more such that often when a client presents me a question, a vision forms in my head about his/her story without me shuffling the cards. When I draw the tarot cards, they only serve to validate that vision in my head. My clients always affirms the facts of these stories in my head. That was when I started panicking because I didn't "sign up for this". When I studied tarot and numerology, nothing in the books or in the courses I took talked about getting visions which tell my clients' respective stories. However, I can't stop these visions, when I get a question. True to my life path number 7, I started reading up about this and asking as many questions as I could about this "new party trick". I haven't gotten a satisfying answer till today.

I shuffled my new deck, the Wizards Tarot deck in a bid to do a general read for myself last night with a 3-card spread (image below). And I got the 10 of Cups, the King of Wands, and the 4 of Wands Reversed. These were read in an integrated fashion with no fixed positions. Afterwhich, I pulled the 9 of Cups which formed an advice to my spread. Now, I have been doing tarot readings for numerous clients with ease, but this spread threw me off completely. I wasn't sure what to make of the great 10 of Cups and 9 of Cups cards ( which symbolize fulfilment) juxtaposed with the not so fantastic 4 of Wands Reversed which symbolized instability and uncertainties. And I felt like the King of Wands trying to juggle these extremes with as much "balls" as he can master!

I bounced that spread off to one my mentors Brigit, who very kindly helped me by offering her perspective on it. I think I finally see the light.

In her interpretation, she said that the cards were telling me that I was looking at how I could integrate my personal values and beliefs (10 of Cups) into my longer term vision ( King of Wands). That is true. I have been constantly questioning my intuitive skills, managing the tug-of-war between my rational mind and my intuitive skills, managing my career goals vs my passion and trying to build a long term plan with an end vision of capturing all my passions and my goals all at once, in mind. This period is transitory for me, hence I picked the 4 of Wands Reversed, which suggested that I have been unsettled by this period of transition. Most importantly, I picked the 9 of Cups as my advice. Now, note that earlier, I had picked the 9 of Cups as my card du jour and posted my take on it, on my Sun Goddess Tarot facebook page. So to see the 9 of Cups as an advice to this spread was a bit of a surprise for me. Brigit summed that advice as "Be happy with what you have, and see every moment as a blessing. This will make the 4 of Wands Reversed easier to deal with".

Brigit was brilliant. How could I have not seen that coming? You see, one never stops learning. I can be armed with every tarot and numerology book, every professional tarot reading certificate in the world, set up a successful tarot consultancy, Sun Goddess Tarot, and balance all that with managing a marketing career and running a family. Yet, it all boiled down to my needing to be happy with what I had, and to feel blessed with the skills I got and remain open to the universe to guide me along the way.

About The Writer:


The writer of this blog post is a 43 year old mother of one, who spreads her time between her day job as a marketeer at a financial institution, her hobby as a certified professional tarot reader and numerologist, and her family which includes a 19 year old son.

Another Nurse In The Family

Some years ago, when Dad had decided to retire and spend his days surfing the tv channels, I thought that was the worst decision he had made because Dad seemed so mentally active and still had a lot of energy to continue working at the law firm. However, Mum recounted that Dad made that decision shortly after having a bad fall while crossing the road. It seemed odd at that time to me, that Dad would make a major life-changing decision based on a reason that is as frivolous as having a fall while walking. It took me awhile to realize that that fall was the symptom of something more sinister - the onset of a silent stroke.

Stroke and high blood pressure runs through my family, so it wasn't a surprise to me that he'd suffer from it. However, what surprised me was the rapid rate at which Dad's legs gradually lost the strength to walk. His gait turned from a quick shuffle, almost like a dance, to one at glacial pace with him holding the wall, table, chair and anything he could grab onto to steady himself.

And today, Dad's condition obviously deteriorated with age and he needs far more assistance, particularly when he goes into momentary confusion from what I suspect is an onset of Alzheimer's. The critical point where we had decided to quickly hire a helper for Dad, was when he fell at home while gliding at glacial pace from table to wall a few weeks ago. Thank goodness, apart from a couple of bruises, Dad couldn't remember that he fell, just barely a couple of hours later. So that was our warning sign that the next time if he should fall again, the situation could be worse.

Funnily enough, while Dad sometimes don't remember what he had eaten for lunch, he could remember the promises I made to him to buy him a Japanese Teppanyaki meal which he thoroughly enjoys. He could even remember laughable moments with my dog Bailey, and his old jokes from possibly the pre-war days which he repeats to me quite frequently.

One day, he sat at the living room with his pajamas on, and it was only 4.15pm in the afternoon. So I asked him to read the time on the clock which was a fair distance from where he was sitting. Now this old clock had roman numbers and the hands on the clock were quite thin. From a distance, I wouldn't have been able to see what time it was. However Dad could tell me the time so I knew deep in my heart, he was still pretty lucid, just confused sometimes.

So with Dad getting weaker with age and Mom not coping very well looking after him on her own, we had decided to get Dad a nursing-trained helper.

Miraculously, as if the universe heard my prayers, we found Marites through Evelyn. Marites is Evelyn's cousin who incidentally had arrived in Singapore to work for a family barely 3 months ago but that didn't work out, hence she was looking for a new employer. And because Evelyn has worked for my family for the last 6 years, I knew I could trust her instincts in introducing Marites to Mom.

Marites joined the family today. I am so relieved that Dad can now be under constant care, and she will also help ease the pressure off Mom. Though Marites is very young, at 24, her pleasant disposition, her willingness to work hard and learn new things as well as her nursing qualifications will all go to helping bring some light back into Mom and Dad's home.

I used to think the cause of Dad's frustrations, isn't that he is partially disabled, but rather, he has to face that nagging fruit bat of a wife day in, and day out. And the cause of Mom's frustrations, isn't that Dad is partially disabled, but rather, she has to face his often cranky and stubborn disposition as well as his unreasonable demands. Perhaps, with Marites, they both have someone else they can each use as sounding board from time to time, and provide yet another much needed conversational partner at home.

I felt a lot more peace when I managed to find Dad a helper. At least, when Mom goes to the market, runs her errands or even just decide to have some "me" time, I can have peace of mind that Marites is taking good care of Dad.

We often take our helpers for granted. In running our home like the quintessential Chief Operations Officer, I sometimes forget how much peace of mind Evelyn had given me so that I could fully focus on my work and have a quality family life at the same time. Truly blessed.

Genuine Appreciation

Yesterday evening, upon stumbling back into our home after a difficult day, Joel greeted me with a couple of whiskey glasses uniquely shaped like a skull. I love my single malt whiskeys and would sometimes unwind with a Macallan, Belvenie, Laprhroaig or Talisker. And when I want to celebrate a little achievement, or an occasion, I’ll pull out my Springbank. The gift of our new whiskey glasses was timely because nothing can wash away a stressful day better than a shot of single malt served in unique glasses given by my son. And boy, did I have a stressful day. Watching me sip my single malt with a smile across my face was all the appreciation Joel needed for his thoughtfulness.

So that brings me to the topic of “Genuine Appreciation”. It’s easy to offer money, a dinner treat, a bunch of flowers, and even easier to offer lip service, but genuine appreciation is the hardest to give out, and the rarest to receive.

Within the family, we expect each member of our family to play our respective roles to run a home perfectly. However, we sometimes take for granted the little things that we do for each other. David prepares my pills every morning, lining them up neatly in a row next to my glass of freshly squeezed juice and a cup of freshly brewed coffee. This is a gesture of love I would always appreciate because it starts my morning right and allows me to ease into my day without haphazardly rushing around the kitchen to prepare my own breakfast. And what have I taken for granted? For a long while, David had been attempting his version of coffee art by drawing a heart on the foam of my coffee. I used to delight in embarrassing him by posting pictures of these on facebook and in his words “undermine” his “burly, macho, Scotsman image”. It’s been months since he has done that and I miss that most in the mornings.

Mom sometimes comes by our home with bottles of her wretched Chinese herbal brews that taste like embalming fluid. These herbal brews promise to tip the balance of the Yin and Yang in our bodies to our favor and recharge us with vitality to prevent us from catching a fever and a flu. Sometimes when Mom goes home, the herbal brews either go to the dog or in the bin without her knowing. But often, she would outstay her visit till she watched every drop of these herbal brews go down our throats. Truly unpleasant. However, I truly appreciate Mom’s show of motherly concern and love. I especially appreciate the time when she took the trouble to cook my favorite dishes after my surgery, and wheeled Dad in his wheelchair, while brandishing pots of delicious food to our home. Only the power of motherly love can help me heal my post-surgery wounds even more quickly.

Then there’s my team at work. In my career, this is probably the smallest number of colleagues within a team that does everything from public relations, corporate communications, customer communications, brand marketing, product marketing, digital marketing, sponsorship and corporate social responsibility. And they do it splendidly. God knows how they juggled the multiple projects within the pressures of tight timelines, demanding internal clients with multiple agendas and a period where we are so under-staffed with one of the girls away on maternity leave and another, away on long leave. I have deep respect for these girls and am exceptionally humbled by the show of solidarity and teamwork that made their delivery of every project even more perfect. That was the reason why, I had a lot of appreciation for the effort they put into their work, that I was driven to do the same by working even while I was on hospitalization leave. If the team had to be in the trenches, I was going to be in the trenches with them.

That is why I get annoyed when marketing communications specialists in any company gets under-appreciated. The role of marketing communications had often been relegated to pretty envelope makers, coherent letter writers, and pretty advertising campaign developers. How much effort one puts into lending thought leadership in any business, and how many times one’s work gets seen as a best practice amongst the different markets in the region, a marketing communications specialist seldom gets a pat on the back. However, they are the first to get nit-picked at, with frivolous criticisms about anything from the colors they use within an advertising campaign to whether a talent used in the campaign has a moustache or should be clean-shaven. Years ago, I worked for a company where I was even asked why I hadn’t the strategic mind to put an advertisement at our airport lounges when the bulk of our customers we were targeting were locals. Genuine appreciation isn’t about paying lip service to the “pretty colors” a marketing communications specialist puts out on the advertising in the newspapers. It’s about the genuine appreciation for the fact that these group of specialists are truly doing what they do best, to support the business goals. And I wished more people would understand the role and the contributions from this role much better.

Genuine appreciation in any circumstance, at home, at work, or amongst friends is hard to come by. It becomes really sad if we sit around to expect it and it becomes even sadder, when we DO NOT expect it. I am just puzzled, if I could live life being truly grateful for everything around me from my husband, son, my parents, my job, my team and my friends, and tell them so as often as I can, I cannot understand how difficult it is for other people to do the same.

Looking good in my 40s effortlessly with Vitamin Science

As Head of Marketing at a financial institution, I clock countless of hours at the office zipping from meetings to meetings. When I return home from work, the pace continues with me hunching over my Blackberry to respond to emails, jotting down notes in preparation for developing my marketing campaign plans, putting together the household grocery list for the helper, planning the family's meals for the week, and discussing the day's issues with my husband and son.

When the family's tucked in bed, faraway in dreamland, I would then start to relax with my hobby - tarot reading. This means that I would be on my emails, phone or Skype late into the night, responding to clients who have requested for a tarot reading from me. I am extremely passionate about tarot. As a certified professional tarot reader I not only read the tarot cards for my clients during my spare time, but I also mentor and teach prospective tarot readers and I volunteer as a reader for the Free Tarot Network too.

With my attempt to juggle multiple roles and with hardly much rest even on weekends, maintaining good health, great skin and well being are my biggest challenges.

When I was 40 turning 41, I reveled in the notion that the 40s was the best decade for a woman. I would have had garnered so much knowledge and experience backed by a mega load of self confidence and pulled them all together with a fabulous family that included a 19 year old son. A tiny wrinkle or 2 on my forehead and bags under my eyes, were just badges of experience I didn't mind brandishing. I took care of myself with a healthy dose of regular visits to the gym, plenty of water, my daily vitamins, well-balanced meals and a disciplined Skincare regime of washing, toning, moisturizing twice a day, weekly masks and monthly facials.

At 43, and just shy of a couple of years away from being classified as "mid- 40s", the type of Skincare I used became even more important. At the age of 43, the couple of tiny wrinkles on my forehead and the eye bags were no longer in agreement with my concept of "40 and Fabulous". I had to prevent them from accelerating further into crows-feet, dull complexion and saggy skin. As the demands in my life meant that my body and mind demanded healthier food, I started eating more organic foods. And I started rationalizing that if eating good quality, organic foods helped me maintain a healthy body and mind, then I had better use good quality, organic Skincare to maintain a healthy glow in my skin.

That's when I discovered Vitamin Science. Like my daily dosage of vitamins that I take every morning to keep me healthy and maintain my energy levels, Vitamin Science Skincare was like a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals which helps me maintain a healthy glow in my skin.

I am currently using the Vitamin Science Vita EA Lifting Toner, Serum, Emulsion, Night Cream as well as the BB Cream. The texture is so light that I can't feel it on my skin, and yet I know that these miracle Skincare products are working to enhance the collagen production in my skin whilst reducing fine lines and increasing the translucence and clarity of my complexion. The best part about the products is that my new Skincare regime with Vitamin Science is completely adequate such that I do not need a specific eye cream. Years of dabbing on rich and heavy eye creams only worsened my eye bags over the years when I pulled and tugged at the delicate skin around the eyes with these creams. I should have discovered Vitamin Science skincare earlier!

Don't take my word for it. I am almost in my mid 40s, and proudly so. I am also juggling an extremely busy lifestyle with hardly much rest managing my career as a marketeer in a fast-paced industry, managing a hobby that demands intense time and energy with clients from around the world who are sometimes in distress, and managing multiple roles as wife, mother, daughter and friend. In spite of these pressures, for what my husband jokingly calls "an old bird", I think I look fabulous.

Besides thanking my parents for the youthful genes I have inherited, I do thank Vitamin Science for helping me maintain a youthful glow in my skin.

About The Writer:


The writer of this blog post is a 43 year old mother of one, who spreads her time between her day job as a marketeer at a financial institution, her hobby as a certified professional tarot reader and her family which includes a 19 year old son.

She was not financially remunerated for this blog post and writing this post was entirely an expression of her personal opinions.

The first few months of Sun Goddess Tarot

Years ago, while standing at a major crossroad of my life, a Feng Shui master I had visited, gave me a list of "must-do" activities which he promised would help me ride the rough and maneuver the hurdles along that path. The list went like this, 1) take up a course/learn something new, 2) balance my temperament/don't be too hard on myself and 3) open my mind to new experiences/stop being judgmental and prejudiced.

So, just barely a few months ago, when my tarot teacher Renae, invited me to join her basic and advance tarot classes, I thought I might have lost the plot in agreeing to sign up for it but went ahead to do so because it was the perfect way for me to tick that list. It certainly looked easier than that MBA from the University of Chicago business School or the Six Sigma Black Belt course which I was considering signing up for. And it sounded like an easy and relaxing way to spend a few weekends.

Months have passed since then. I have set up Sun Goddess Tarot as a professional consultancy offering confidential readings for clients online, in person, and at corporate and charity events.

I am particularly proud that after graduating from Renae's advance tarot class, I was so fueled with passion for the art of tarot reading that I had my logo and my website (www.sungoddesstarot.com) designed with a vision in mind. How they look, had to represent the very essence of what I wanted for my clients and myself. I wanted vitality, energy, optimism, self-love, confidence and compassion as I set off on that journey past the original crossroad at which I found myself trapped in previously.

Sun Goddess Tarot gave me all that and more. In a few short months, my Facebook page www.facebook.com/SunGoddessTarot has now gotten 123 fans who are a great mix of clients and fellow tarot readers with whom I exchange a lot of learnings and experiences. I have also had my first experience doing tarot readings for the Children's Cancer Foundation last month. That was fun. I managed to do 42 readings in a day and while I went home nursing a 3-day migraine, I came out of it feeling gratified that I had put my skills to good use.

I am now a member of the Tarot Association of the British Isles and the American Tarot Association, and I am endorsed as one of the latter's readers for the Free Tarot Network. I was so thankful for a mentor assigned to me by the FTN who further enriched my knowledge of the art of tarot and actually made me a better and more intuitive reader. I have also gotten myself professionally certified as a CPTR by the Tarot Certification Board of America. The TCBA has 7 levels of certification exams that I had to sit for, and I finished 3 exams in a month. How's that for enthusiasm!

And you know what? That Feng Shui master was right. Learning the tarot and reading for clients in the last few months have been a turning point in my life. I feel completely healed from past hurts and disappointments as I became part of the healing process of my clients by reading their tarot cards. I also became more aware of myself and more opened to the faults and failings of others. Embracing the art of tarot has allowed me to get past that crossroad in my life, and walk that winding road with absolutely no fear of the roadblocks along my path. I am not even shying away from the skepticism of some friends who up to this moment, still thought that I made house-calls on a broom and danced naked under the moon.

So where am I taking this whole Tarot business? As far as I am concerned, it's still a beloved hobby of mine. I am not leaving my job as a marketeer to pursue tarot reading as a career just yet. I absolutely love my job and funnily enough, the intuition honed from tarot reading has made me a better marketeer. Also, I think it's the universe' way of telling me that I should just continue on this path of enriching my knowledge of tarot and continue sharpening my intuition as a reader. Honestly, I feel I haven't learnt enough and am thankful for every opportunity I get to improve my reading skills. One day, I hope to be good enough to be able to teach and mentor other tarot readers who have embraced the art as enthusiastically as I have.

The family has finally accepted that this isn't just a phase of looniness that I am going through. And I am so glad that for every accurate reading that I do for my clients, it's an opportunity for me to demystify tarot as a fortune telling tool.

Someone said to me last week, " The world of Tarot has no limits if your intent is pure."

What's Dad got to do with it?

Many years ago, my gran on Dad's side took him to a fortune teller. The fortune teller said that Dad would die at the ripe old age of 70. Dad's 71 and as far as I know, even in his wheel chair, his mental sharpness and lucidity can still start or stop an argument over political issues. I never knew gran. She died when Dad was quite young. But I wished she was alive for me to tell her that that fortune teller was a complete fake.

Dad often reminisce about the days he sees his mother waiting faithfully by the window till wee hours of the morning for gramps to come home from work or other extra curricular activities. He would also remember, with a slight hint of anger, how gramps remarried about 6 months after his mother died.

He also talked about the affections gramps showered on his elder sister LC. The favoritism right up to gramp's death was quite obvious even to us, grandchildren.

I think, in that traditional Peranakan household, Dad never quite got the fatherly love he deserved. However, I can bear testimony to the fact that Dad was never anything like his father. In my entire life, Dad was the best father ever. I was never in want for anything. He stood by me under every circumstance.

Even when I was going through a divorce and Dad, in his utter disappointment, cut me off, I could see the pain I had put him through. It took me almost 11 years to realize that he wasn't disappointed with my decision for a divorce. Rather, he was so disappointed because with that special father-daughter bond we had, entrenched by his experience of not having a communicative relationship with his own father, I never thought to share my marital problems with the one man who could have protected me.

Till today I am so grateful that Dad taught me the one thing money couldn't buy - to stand up for what is right. His incarceration by the establishment for his political views was a lesson to me about not allowing myself to be moulded by the views of others. That's why I am extremely honest with my opinions at work even in the presence of my bosses. His lucidity in spite of being in a wheelchair taught me that there are no limitations under any circumstance. That's why I am proud of my skills and passion at work in spite of not being actuary-trained in a company full of talented actuaries.

Most importantly, Dad is an epitome of the adage "being true to yourself". He didn't have a childhood filled with warm kisses and nurturing hugs from his father. From his school days through to his graduation at the university, through his marriage and having kids, Dad didn't have his father pat him on his back or hold his hand at every milestone. And yet there is no semblance of bitterness in his heart. He never used his past as an excuse to be a lousy father. In fact, he used his past as an excuse to give me more warm kisses and nurturing hugs.

Dad is my hero. Because of him, I became a better person, a better spouse and a better parent. I don't want to just thank him for being my Dad on Father's Day. I want to thank him everyday.