I was in the house that morning when this…
…came via some courier service.
My girl was outside so she accepted it on my behalf from the guy. “It’s for you,” she said. I was kind of puzzled as I was not expecting anything – no, I did not go shopping online nor did I order any home delivery and I was not expecting anybody to send me anything either.
The name of the box was not familiar and for a while, I thought that somebody had sent me a few bottles of essence of chicken after reading my blogpost on it that day. The nature and shape of the box plus that FRAGILE sticker made me think of some glassware that was given to me free when I bought a few bottles of wine sometime ago.
I spotted in very fine print the email address of the sender so I knew who had sent it and seeing this…
…by the side of the box, I expected some nuts inside. “It’s from Aunty Mandy,” I told my girl, “and my guess is there are nuts that you can enjoy inside.”
Of course, she knows my very dear friend, Mandy, so very well. She was always there whenever we went over, never mind whether it was to KL, Penang or Sungai Petani. She would go out of her way to drive to where we were to make sure we were all right and to take us around. One Chinese New Year, when my girl could not come home for the celebration, she went all the way there to take her and a friend (from Sabah) out for dinner. Yes, she truly is a gem – precious and so very hard to find!
I opened the box and there was this note inside…
That was so very sweet and thoughtful of her, really, to remember and think of us during these difficult times. It has been so many years since we last saw her and I don’t know if we will ever meet again. Nonetheless, it is so very comforting to know that we are in her thoughts, always.
No, there weren’t any nuts nor essence of chicken. Instead, there were these bottles of sambal…
…and when I shared the photo on Facebook, it drew quite a lot of responses. Obviously, a lot of people have tried and they all loved it a lot.
One will expire in November and the other two, in 2023, next year which means that I have ample time to sit down and enjoy them one by one slowly. Thank you so much, Mandy! Indeed, the best of all surprises would be one that is most unexpected and comes with lots of love.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 