Making Peace With My Inner Child

I did not like kids. They were tiresome, demanding, and often a potential liability in a way that required my making plans around them.  When Joel was little, I was every parent’s nightmare when it came to my turn to babysit the children or do the school run.  My way of entertaining these kids was to feed them with a buffet of sweets, chocolates, crisps and lots of fizzy drinks while I did my aerobics in front of the TV.

 

On days I hosted the baby group, I would have some of these kids’ parents calling me at night to complain that their children were hyperactive from the sugar overload or had lost their appetite for dinner. 

 

My Weekend Getaway

 

When the girls at work planned a weekend getaway in Malacca recently, I was informed that Susan was going to have her daughter, Sophie, come along with us. I was worried initially.  A weekend trip away with the girls always meant miles of walking, eating lots of spicy Malaysian food, and plenty of coffee stops.  “Did that sound kid-friendly to you, Susan?”  I thought.

 

I decided to keep my mind open.  A 5-hour bus ride to Malacca could be a nightmare with her running up and down the aisle of the bus with little or no chance of me gagging and tying her to the roof of the bus.  I decided, the fizzy drinks, sweets, chocolates and crisps tactic would not work if I wanted to have a peaceful nap for 5 hours.

 

Well, I was wrong about kids.  At least, I was wrong about this kid.  I did have a peaceful bus-ride.  I did have a weekend filled with so much fun and laughter. I did walk miles, shopped and ate plenty of spicy Malaysian food, with little Sophie in tow.

 

Little Miss Sunshine

 

After a great weekend, my post-vacation blues really was not inspired about missing Malacca, its food, its café culture and its history.  I realized it was inspired by my missing Sophie.  And here’s why.

 

Sophie sprinkled a lot of sunshine throughout our trip.  She made us laugh with her antics, especially when she choreographed her special “jelly dance” to entertain us.   She chattered non-stop, and every opinion from her was made from the observation of a pure and innocent heart of a child. 

 

Her inquisitive nature inspired her to ask many questions.  I saw her learning new things, shaping her perceptions with everything she touched, heard and experienced.

 

She taught us to let our hair down, and look at everything and everyone around Malacca through the eyes of a child.  From that vantage point, we saw everything from a fresh perspective.  A wall mural was not just a wall mural.  We played with it and engaged with a piece of art on the wall just to have a wee bit of fun.

 

We became children again.  We visited the Mamee Cup Noodle factory on Jonker street, decorated our own cups and customized our own cup noodle ingredients.  It was like a school excursion.

 

We were not fussy about sticking to the breakfast, lunch and dinner routine.  We ate when we wanted to eat and with an adventurous spirit, tried all kinds of food that I would otherwise not have tried. 

 

Sophie’s love for life, inspired us to live the moment, enjoy the now, appreciate every little thing around us. Without her, I would be spending the trip checking my emails every hour on the hour like I usually did when I travelled.

 

I was grateful for Little Miss Sunshine’s presence throughout our weekend getaway.  Sometimes, children can teach us so much more than we would ever admit.  The most important lesson from her for me, was that, if I wanted to live the moment and truly love my life, I needed to start with an open mind.

 

 

Postscript:  Now I would usually have thought that I  had lost my mind to be drawing something like this together with Sophie during our bus-ride home from Malacca. However, on looking back at it,  this was to me, our most beautiful piece of artwork together!

About The Writer

The writer of this blog post is a Marketing and PR professional for over 20 years.  Due to her love for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), she is also a freelance sports writer on the side, contributing MMA-related articles to several sports media.  She works in partnership with her husband, David Ash, who is an avid sports photographer from www.singaporemaven.com.  She is passionate about Boxing and nurtures a dream to fight competitively one day when her coach stops making fun of her.  She is also a psychic intuitive by birth and runs a consultancy that does tarot and numerology readings under her brand, Sun Goddess Tarot.  This blog is affectionately called "The Crazy AngMo" as she is married to one, although she has not yet explained to THE Ang Mo that when translated, he has been labeled  “the bloke with ginger hair”.  

 

 

A Girly Weekend In Bangkok

 

I Hate Traveling

I know the posts across my social media platforms project a different perspective but I truly dislike traveling.  I dislike packing my luggage, the administrative hassle of booking a trip, going through the immigration and security procedures and then landing up in the plane at a designated seat next to someone who might lean towards me throughout the flight and drop his head on my shoulder ever so often as he pretended to snooze while I gag because of his severe body odour while I try to dodge his bad case of dandruff at the same time. I dislike traveling.

 

Over the years, I had always traveled with a purpose.  I traveled for business, for boxing training, for yoga, or on writing assignments, and most of the time with my husband.  On personal trips, he would make all travel arrangements.  I just showed up at the airport with my packed bags. Hassle-free. 

 

A Timely Trip With The Girls

 

So it surprised me somewhat, when I agreed to go on a girls-only trip to Bangkok over the long May Day weekend recently.   The rules were: 1) no boxing gloves, 2) no gym gear, and 3) no men.  We were planning to paint the town red, eat and shop our way through Bangkok, indulge in daily massages or a manicure and just enjoy the camaraderie and laughter as a collective sisterhood of looney colleagues who were also close friends over the years. Initially, it sounded like a bizarre nightmare for me. I could not think of a worse trip.  Without my boxing gloves and gym gear, I felt lost.  Manicure? I had never done a manicure in perhaps 6-8 years.  Eating and shopping spree? I am on a strict high- protein, gluten-free, no processed food, no sugar diet, and if it isn’t a sports or fight gear shop, I would not spend time in it.

 

However, this girly trip came at a right time.  Dad had just passed on slightly more than a fortnight ago and I had been deep in grief.  Work had dealt so much stress because of the recent reorganization of my team.  I had been training almost 7 days a week in boxing, muay thai, strength and conditioning sessions and sprints on Sundays that my body was beginning to holler for a wee bit of rest. I had been doing so many client readings in Tarot and Numerology right up to wee hours of the morning sometimes when overseas clients request for skype or email readings. I have been working on several sports-related articles for various websites at the same time. These were gradually taking a toll on me and I thought this trip would be a timely reprieve.  

It was.

 

So Much Fun

 

This girls-only trip was the best decision I made for myself.  It was truly a critical component of self-care.  Somehow, the 10 girls that banded together for this trip had such wonderful chemistry.  We laughed, we ate adventurously, we snapped at each other jokingly, we shared worries with our respective room mates, we talked through the night, we shopped every nook and corner of every mall, we watched out for each other, we waited patiently for each other, we broke up into smaller groups according to our respective shopping and dining patterns almost instinctively and we completely threw our daily cares away for a wee weekend and focused on just us.  

It was my first girly trip.  It took a long time for me to embrace this strange concept of traveling together with a bunch of close friends simply because I am very protective of my privacy and my space.  However, I was glad these girls shared my space and allowed me to share theirs. 

 

Would I do it again?  Hell, yes! When is our next trip girls?

 

About The Writer
 
 

The writer of this blog post is a Marketing and PR professional for over 20 years.  Due to her love for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), she is also a freelance sports writer on the side, contributing MMA-related articles to several sports media.  She works in partnership with her husband, David Ash, who is an avid sports photographer from www.singaporemaven.com.  She is passionate about Boxing and Muay Thai and nurtures a dream to fight competitively one day when her coach stops making fun of her.  She is also a psychic intuitive by birth and runs a consultancy that does tarot and numerology readings under her brand, Sun Goddess Tarot.  This blog is affectionately called "The Crazy AngMo" as she is married to one, although she has not yet explained to THE Ang Mo that when translated, he has been labeled  “the bloke with ginger hair”.  

10 looney girls at Bangkok Chinatown. Almost had a garbage truck rammed into us as we took this wefie.

Coconut ice cream at Chatuchak Market - we needed to cool off from the heat

I  swear I had no part to play in eating all these bowls of Bangkok's famous "boat noodles"

At the Hello Kitty Café in Bangkok - bliss

Cute right? right?

In Hello Kitty heaven.

One of the best meals ever in Bangkok was our Teppanyaki dinner at Benihana at the Anantara Resort and Spa, Bangkok

Our Teppanyaki Chef at Benihana Restaurant

I had only a bite:D The waffle at Mr Jones' Orphanage at Siam Centre

I only had a wee bite...:D  This  was the best Shibuya toast at After You Café at Siam Square

Cute. Coffee at Mr Jones' Orphanage, Siam Centre

Got Mum a uniquely Thai Mother's Day gift.  A ring shaped like an elephant made from 18k gold, black diamond for its eye and ruby on its back.  Pretty.