I remember my Dad as someone who came home very late in the evenings, and he went to work in the wee hours every morning. In the beginning, he sold lamp fixtures, then he stopped doing that, and he went into a manufacturing business with some mates. Later on, for some reason, he bought out the other partners’ (there were 2 of them) shares, and so he became Boss. In his heydays, his factory had 18 workers! Pretty impressive, huh? He was in the right industry because back in the 1970s, manufacturing factories were booming! All these he did by himself… my grandfather’s business had gone bust long ago. Dad was really proud to be doing what he was doing. He would always remind us to write his occupation as “Engineer” in our school forms, because he felt that whilst anyone could be successful as a “businessman”, few succeed as “engineers”. For this reason, he would always do any re-work (on products produced by his factory) for free. I guess he wanted every product that bears his company’s name to be perfect! But all these re-work until ‘perfection’ is achieved, meant that he was never home, even on weekends.

My mum stopped working after she got married. I don’t know the real reason, it could be because she got pregnant… or more likely, at that time (and in my opinion, this has not changed) a man was seen as very successful if he alone could support his family. That was certainly the case in our home, as well as in the homes of all the Uncles and Aunties that were in my parent’s clique of friends. No aunty worked. Every woman in their group stayed home, but mum was probably the only one who did not have a full-time maid.

Somehow Mum managed to “hide” (there was no proper altar or table for praying) a statue of Kuan Yin in our home, and on some days, she would put Kuan Yin at the stairways, and she prayed in the daytime. I don’t know if this was with my Dad’s blessings or not, but after a few years, the praying stopped completely. I still don’t know the reason why. And there is no point asking them because, remember, parents will only say what is ‘politically correct’. 😂

In any case, these are just my snippets of memories from my childhood. And as I told you in ____, some things that happen in our childhood years affect us, so I thought I’ll tell you a little, so at least my blog writing makes sense to you.

A few years after I got married, Mum revealed that she would often take a sprig of pomegranate leaves, dip it in water and sprinkle around the home. I helped her once, I remember, and I think she only reminded me because I was going through a very, very rough patch in my marriage then. More on that later.

Why this story? As you read on, you will know that I ‘picked up’ the habit of praying in my Feng Shui journey, and this certainly is something ‘against’ my upbringing. But even till today, I pray. You know the saying, “Pray when things are good, pray when things are bad.” You better believe it! 🙏

我们姐妹花小时候报名读基督教小学。当时新加坡政府“两个就够了”政策，生了三个小孩👧👧👧我们的妈妈找不到肯收留我们的学校！是真的！😭

偏偏我父亲不信祈祷这‘玩样儿’，害得我们姐妹花整天心惊胆跳，毕竟读基督教学校，当然每天唱圣歌，读圣经。我记得有一年我老师发作业：画我心中的耶稣。那时，我小孩子不懂事把耶稣画画贴在家里书房桌面上，爸爸大发雷霆，很生气，很生气！ 😡 我真的很害怕！ 😭😭😭

我父亲呀，他的负担很重。。。他是开制造工厂的，早出晚归，我们在家里很少看到他。那个年代制造业蓬勃发展，我妈妈跟其他妈妈一样，结婚后就留在家里。如果你太太不用抛头露面出去打工，就显得男人很成功（我觉得现在社会也一样， 是这么看男人女人该负的责任）。妈妈做家务，照顾我们三姐妹，可够她忙了！ 👩👧👧👶🍜🍝🍚🍦🍦🍦🏡📗📘📙🛁🛏 唯一不同的是, 其他有钱太太家里有两、 三个女佣，我妈妈一个也没有请。 哎！我妈妈，她要煮饭给我们全家吃， 又煮又洗， 真的辛苦她了！ 🆘

妈妈偶尔拜‘观音’ （是偷偷拜吧！我还记得她白天把观音雕像放楼梯口，拜拜了就收起来），偶尔上佛堂。。。不过，后来她跟我爸爸一样，没有（是放弃？）任何宗教信仰。

我父母亲家里有看风水吗？当然没有！哪里有可能？！！🤣

我为什么说这故事？ 我在—————— 提到， 我们小时候的经历会多多少少影响我们长大的行为。 在我风水路途，我学会了祈祷。这不是我成长时接触的习惯。我到今天还是每天祈祷！ 我要说：亲爱的读者们，你们一定要相信祈祷的力量！🙏