Coming Home to Mummy in America

An Ode to Mummy

I have often wondered how is it that Mum decided to uproot from her comfy life in Singapore and move to Michigan. Kalamazoo, Michigan to be exact. Is it not for the chance meeting on Cupid.com with one stubborn Michiganite, i don't know what else would have rocked her boat.

Fast forward, it has been 15 years since Mummy made that move, much to the surprise of her family members and friends.  Yet, full of positive energy, dynamism, optimism, hope and faith, she carved out a little niche for herself. Hats off to mummy ! An exemplary woman of courage and bravery. 

Spritely as she is, Mummy very quickly got herself a summer job at Metro Bedding Garden Centre.  She simply loved gardening and working in the garden centre, enriched her knowledge of a myriad of plants and flowers. So much so that she's hooked on HGTV and subscribes to gardening magazines.

Her enthusiasm, hardworking attitude endeared her to the customers who returned each year to the garden centre to seek her expert advice. In addition, she remains a super sales person, judging from her track record at Robinsons Department Store in Singapore, where she regularly clinched "Top sales person" award.  Metro Bedding has never experienced such a surge in sales ever since Mummy joined them! And it's no wonder, John the boss, has kept her on his payroll for the last 13 years.

Mummy golfs in summer and bowls in winter. Her golfing suffers because she prefers to pot around in her garden than hit balls. However in winter, she metamorphosis into a formidable bowler, striking turkeys at her bowling leagues.

Today, Mummy is happily learning to paint via online lessons. She churns out oil paintings on canvas, paints beautiful toadstools, ladybirds and vegetables on stones.  Her artistic ventures never ceased to amaze me. 

                                              

Mother's joy

All American

This year I had the golden opportunity to spend some time with Mummy and Ray as I was passing through Montreal, Ottawa and Atlanta. I was going to spend Christmas and all the shopping days leading up to it in Michigan! I arrived at Battle Creek International Airport, a quiet, small familial airport which I have come to know over the years. Mum could not contain her joy and happily bundled me into her awaiting Buick Enclave, a roomy 6 seater SUV which she purchased in case my brother's family and mine came visiting at the same time. That's how generous mummy is.

I was so thrilled to be by her side again. Listening to her endless chatter and watching her as she darted from room to room to show me her precious acquisitions. Yes, she is one big shopper. If it wasn't clothes for herself, it was shoes for me or my aunt in Singapore or her niece etc. Mum is a giver and she never stops giving stuff to others.

After a good's night sleep, i woke up to the smell of freshly dripped coffee she had prepared for us. Breakfast was oatmeal,  toasted raisin bagel, mixed vegetable omelette and crispy bacon. Wow.. this is breakfast a la American! I consciously nibbled at my bagel, aware that 3 weeks here could create havoc with my weight.

Shopping was next on the list, as we spent many days scouring the malls. We visited Steinmart, Walmart, Marshalls, JC Penny, TJ Max, Kohls, Macys and even made a side trip to Grand Rapids for some outlet shopping therapy. Next time, i will skip all these malls and just make a beeline to GR, as the choices there were 100 times better.  Along the way to GR, we made a stop to visit the headquarters of Bissell. This is the maker of my Vac & Steam Bissell vacuum cleaner which i love dearly.

Shopping Twins

In between shopping, I badgered Mum & Ray that i only wanted to eat typical American food.  So it was juicy burgers at the local golf/country club, Fried chicken at Chicken Coop,  Gyros at Theo & Stacy ( The best authentic Greek family restaurant ), lofty soft buttermilk pancakes at Crow's Nest,  Bimbo's Pizza ( I swear it is the best pizza in the world ), Chick-fil-A , Applebees, Red Lobster and the best traditional 24hr donut stop, Sweetwaters.

Sweetwaters

When we got tired of eating out, we visited supermarkets like Hardings, D & W, Trader Joe ( which to my surprise is the fresh face sister of Aldi ), Meijer, Aldi, Cosco ( for its gigantic muffins ) and the occasional speciality stores like Mckenzie's Bakery for its super soft almond/ marzipan croissant and delicious almonds at Heilman's Nuts and Confections.  We would often whip up healthy salads, crock-pot stew, tacos and finish off with home-baked cinnamon rolls. 

Please give me burgers

With all that calories intake, it was a blessing when it started to snow hard and i got a few lessons with the snow shovel. This was one back-breaking job and although Ray has a snow blower, i opted for the shovel to burn off the calories. I can boast that I cleaned up the drive way all by myself when Ray was at a football match. I must have burned some 1000 calories that morning,

Christmas Snacking

Then came Christmas and my ultimate American Christmas dinner wish came true when I was invited to my step-brother Ben's in-laws' house. It was a feast fit for a king, as we dined on roast beef, mash potatoes, stewed vegetables, dinner rolls, gravy, baked ham and turkey.  The desserts were equally mouth-watering with her famous crusty apple pie, chocolate cake, peppermint ice cream cake, treacle pie and pecan pie. I could not have asked for more. I was contented. 

It snowed so hard on Christmas eve and Christmas day,  with 6 inches of snow, it was snow shovelling before getting to our presents.  I unwrapped a tartan wool scarf, Urban Decay cosmetics and two branded sweaters. On that special morning, Mummy and Ray who earlier committed to eat healthy for the rest of 2018, unwrapped an air-fryer.  Bingo!

All in the family

My plate

My sports