The Art of Waiting

I was getting ready to go for a cousin's wedding recently when I had this conversation with Abang. Presumably he was getting a bit impatient because he was ready to go and his Mummy seemed to take forever to get ready.

"Mam-meeeee, come la, why you take so long to get ready?" was his innocent question.

"Because I'm a girl," I told him objectively, "Girls always take longer to get ready."

"Why?" he asked, obviously puzzled at my answer.

"I don't know, maybe we're just like that," I shrugged.

"Aiyo ... why la ... quick la Mummy ... I want to go ..." he continued to complain.

So I bent down to his eye level and told him, "You know, Abang, you have much to learn from Daddy. Daddy never rushes Mummy when Mummy is getting ready."

"Why not?" Now he was even more puzzled.

"Because Daddy knows there's no point. I would still take this long to get ready. It's not like I lengah-lengah, it's just that I have more things to do to get ready.

You see, Daddy learnt a long time ago that there's no point in trying to rush Mummy. So this is what he does - while Mummy is getting ready he does other things like work, or watch TV or whatever. When he sees Mummy is a-l-m-o-s-t ready, maybe 3 minutes from being ready, then only he starts to mandi, pakai baju, etc. That way, we're both ready about the same time! No complaints, everybody's happy."

He didn't answer me - probably couldn't think of one - and just walked off with an expression that looked like he had seen the light, yet at the same time was wondering whether I was being sarcastic.

I wasn't. Really!