Tag Archives: Birthday

Happy 16th Birthday! A Letter to BB & GG

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I was going to post something else today, but then I realised that I had not done my yearly letter to GG & BB on their birthday, so decided to post this today. In case you want to read previous birthday letters, here are the links to the 15th and 14th birthdays.

Dear GG and BB,

You both are sixteen today. I can’t believe it’s been 16 years since the day I first held you both in my hands for the very first time and became a mum. When you were born, I was scared about how I am going to bring you both up, if I will be able to keep you both alive, happy and well-fed. But you both have grown up to be great young adults and I feel your dad and I have done a good job.

GG, you are growing up to be an amazing young lady. You are beautiful, both inside and out and confident, smart, and well-liked by everyone. You take pride in what you do and make sure you give it your best shot.

I am very proud of your achievements in secondary school. When you come back with yet another certificate or when your form teacher tells me why you were nominated for the model student award in spite of having classmates who are better than you academically, I felt like tearing up because I was so proud and happy. The moment when I saw that you cracked the early admission exercise for your course of choice was another super happy moment. You were one of the few who managed to wow your future lecturers with your passion and knowledge of the subject. Be proud of what you have achieved, but also look forward to new mountains to conquer and keep that fighting and competitive spirit alive.

BB, you are my happy pill. I have rarely seen you get angry as you are a happy-go lucky boy. Even when GG used to bully you when you were younger, you would just move away from her and not retaliate. You still do that and I love your laid back attitude, your always smiling and happy face and your loving heart. You still give hugs and kisses, even though its considered passé by boys your age and are always smiling and happy.

If you want something, you can really put your mind to it. Case in point is your recent early admission exercise to your dream course. You are one more step closer to achieving your dream to become a part of the aeronautical industry. You know I teared up when you called me with the news and I know you were so thrilled that you could not speak for a few seconds, that’s how excited you were.

I know you made an impact on the panel that was discussing the candidates who are worthy of an early admission and are one of those few who showcased their passion for this industry and got an admission even before you sit for your O level exams. This definitely takes away some heat away from you towards getting the grades needed, but I push you more than I do GG because I know you are capable of far more than what you are currently achieving. I don’t want you to settle for something, rather I want you to reach for the stars and become as successful as you deserve to be.

You both are on the cusp of adulthood and as you move from the safe environment of school to the more adult environments of tertiary education, here is some advice from someone who has seen more of life than you.

Know yourself. Dig deep inside yourself and find out who you really are. Find out what your passions are (though to a large extent, you do know what you like, but passions change and likes and dislikes evolve over years, so keep reaching inside and check in once a while). Know what your strengths and weaknesses are and work towards enhancing your strengths and minimising or working towards eliminating your weaknesses.

Always be true to yourself. You are unique and there’s no one like you in the entire universe. Embrace what makes you, you and special and never compromise on your personal integrity. Learn to navigate this world, but on your own terms. Don’t be a people pleaser, but always keep friendly terms with everyone around you. Believe in yourself and the fact that you can do anything you set your mind to. Your self-determination, coupled with hard work, self-confidence and a positive attitude will take you far in life.

Push yourself. Make sure you push yourself out of your comfort zone and push yourself to excel in everything you do. Be cautious, but not at the cost of having regrets later. Failure is nothing more than a stepping stone to success. Einstein failed 99 times before tasting success so don’t fear failure. Learn from your mistakes and know that’s another way not to do something. Keep trying and you will find success. Put yourself out there and explore the unknown. This is especially true in your twenties when you are not really burdened by life’s realities. Take calculated risks at this point and push yourself to the max and success will soon kiss your feet.

Keep learning. Learning does not end when you finish studying. The worst thing you can do to yourself is to stop learning. Continue to educate yourself, both in the hard knowledge of the industry you are in and the soft skills you need to succeed in the corporate world. Watch and listen all the time and learn from everything and everyone. Every second of life is a learning experience. Just be genuine to the people around you and treat everyone with the same respect, whether the most exalted or the most ordinary person you encounter. Make a pact to learn something new each day.

Practice gratitude. Be grateful for the world around you, be grateful for where you have some from and where you currently are. Try to thank some part of your life daily and you will find youself happier for it.

At the end of the day, find your Ikigai, your reason for being, your purpose in life. When you reach that magical space where passion, mission, vocation and profession collide, life will become so much more meaningful and special. I hope and wish with all my heart that you soon find this space and I promise that I will do all that I can to help you get there.

BB & GG, I wish you the best of birthdays and exciting times ahead as you start a new and exciting time in your lives. Thank you for coming into our lives and our lives have become so much better because of you too.

Happy Birthday and may you get all that you aspire to

15th Birthday Letter to GG & BB

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Happy birthday GG & BB! You turned 15 over the weekend and as it happens every year, I can’t help but think of the two little babies I brought into this world who would fit comfortably in the crook of my arms. You’ve both grown up so much now, with BB towering more than a head over me. GG, who is my little chilli padi is still slightly miffed at the genes she got handed out at birth which makes her only chest high to her brother, but you are a feisty girl who is slowing becoming a lovely, graceful, but still a very feisty young woman.

Fifteen years back, I fell in love, irrevocably and completely and this feeling has only intensified in the intervening years. I can still remember the first words I uttered when I woke up from my anaesthesia were about you both and since that second, your well-being and happiness has been the absolute priority in my life.

Some days I lie in bed and start to worry and freak out. You both are fifteen now and only a few years away from legal adulthood. Very soon, you will finish school and life as I know it will end. You both will become more independent and mum will only be a peripheral part of your lives. I don’t know if I am ready for these changes yet. BB will go on to do his National Service in 3-4 years (depending on what educational route you take to after your O levels) and then will change into a man! I will surely miss my sweet little boy, but I can’t stop nature having her way, right?

BB, you are a sweetheart and I don’t say this because I am your mum and am biased (well, that too). You are one of the sweetest boys I have met (and thanks to you I have met many) who does not have a bad bone in his head or his heart. You always think the best of everyone and even when you get bullied, you’d rather just brush it off or keep it to yourself just because you don’t want to get someone in trouble. But you should learn to take a stand. When you leave the protected environment of your school and go out into the world, you will soon realise man comes in many forms and so when you don’t learn to stand up for yourself, you may find yourself pushed down to the bottom of the barrel.

GG, you are such a sweetheart, so giving and caring. You own each room when you enter it because of your personality. You are a natural leader, something I always knew and I am glad this year you got to showcase it to others when you became the Vice President of your CCA. You have a wonderful work ethic, one that will be an asset to you in the years to come. I have no doubt that irrespective of the career path you choose, you will become someone who is very successful (whatever your definition of success is). I know you dislike certain subjects in school, but you still work hard on those just because you have a natural desire to excel and set personal high standards for yourself. Keep doing that and success will kiss your feet always.

Happy birthday to my sweethearts! It was your birthday, but my present has and always has been the two of you – the best thing in my life!

Happy Birthday GG & BB: A Letter to you on your 14th Birthday!

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Happy Birthday, BB & GG! You turn 14 tomorrow and the years between the first time I held you both in my arms to today seems to have gone by in a flash. Tomorrow is also your Hindi year-end exam and I wish you all the best for the exams (though I know you wish the exams didn’t happen today!).

GG, you are my first born (by two minutes) and as I watch you grow into a warm and confident young lady, I am always surprised you were born from my womb. You are beautiful, both from the inside and the outside, but I am glad, at this point in life, you are more concerned on the inside than the outside, maybe unlike your peers.

BB, my baby boy, who is now a whole head taller than me, you are still the sweet and lovely little boy I watched grow up. I still love the random hugs you give me now and then and the cuddles you ask me sometimes and hope you never change this aspect of your personality.

Both of you are no longer children and completely dependent on me anymore. You are already young adults who show promise of the adults you will soon become.

For both of you, the exams that begin around the end of the month are defining exams. How you in this exam will determine to a large extent your future path in life as the subjects you take will eventually determine the subjects you can take post school.

There are very few children who are your age and who know what they want to do in life, you both are quite fortunate you have been able to pin down your passions early on and to a large extent, you both have decided what you want to do in life. All I say that grow your passion and let that determine your path in life. As someone wise once said,

“When you love what you do and work in something that you are passionate about, you never ever go to work a single day in your life!”

The teens are brutal years, take this from someone who has been through it. I have always believed that teenagers are more lethal than even adults and what you learn while navigating these years will be the foundation which you can use to base your adult interactions.

The teen years are brutal, take this from someone who has been through it. I have always believed that teenagers are more lethal than even adults and what you learn while navigating these years will be the foundation which you can use to base your adult interactions.

One thing I would like you both to learn during the holidays is to learn to cook! Cooking is no longer restricted to girls and with both learning to make simple meals in school, we can take this further and learn simple meals you can make for yourself. This will make you more independent and cooking is an important life skill. You will never starve or even spend too much money on meals when you stay away from home!

Speaking of which, I am quite dreading the time when you both fly the coop – BB will start first when he starts his National Service, but I would love for both to stay and study overseas so you gain valuable experience – both academically as well as in life!

My hopes and aspirations for you both are quite simple, I want you to enjoy what you do and in the process be happy doing it. Live life to the fullest and make use of every opportunity that comes your way, be it tiny, little or big. Keep learning, it never stops and try to learn something new every day! Love each other immensely as you now do and never stop being in each other’s lives. You both share a special and unique bond, keep that flame always alive!

Happy Birthday, GG & BB! Remember I love you to the moon and back (definitely more!)

Happy Birthday to you….

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Today is the day BB & GG leave their childhood behind and officially become teens! They turn 13 today….

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Dear GG and BB,

Happy Birthday to you! You turn 13 today and can now call yourselves official teenagers. These teen years will be amazing years for both of you as you both learn to stretch your wings, form your lifelong beliefs, build abilities and passions and find what you want to do for the rest of your lives.

You both are growing up to become fine young people, who have a good value system which should allow you to take the vagueries of being an adult in your stride. This is an age where temptations abound all around you and I do hope that values and sense we have instilled in both of you will help you fight against those temptations you will see around you.

GG, you are my first born and when I was pregnant with the two of you, I desperately wanted at least one of you to be a girl. You are that girl. You show so much promise and over the last one year, you have literally grown up, becoming more mature and focused. You know what you want to do in school and are very clear about your goals. You may not have the perfect career idea as yet, but each day you are refining your ideas and when you do figure out exactly what you want to do in life, you are well poised to achieve those goals. You also have started blossoming in terms of leadership skills and these will stand you in good stead in life. Keep doing what you are doing with the same passion and you will always be a winner!

BB, when you were born, I was very happy. I had always longed for a brother, and when I saw you with your sister, I knew GG will never feel the same yearning. You’ve been an amazing brother and hope you and your sister be as close as you are now forever. You are such a smart boy that sometimes the things you say, scare me! You found your passion in life when you were 3 years old and over the years, this  has never wavered. This is extremely rare in people who take years in finding out what they want to do in life, with some adults not knowing it till the day they die. I hope you keep this passion alive and kicking and do all that you can to make sure you are able to achieve what you set out to be at age three! Do not less the fun of today make you lose track of what you want to achieve in life and lose sight of the end goal.

02186pcGG & BB, my wishes for you both are that you both lead happy, contented and fulfilled lives. There are not many years left when you will leave these teen years behind and become full-fledged adults and have all the responsibilities that come with it. Use these years wisely, read as much as you can, grow your mind, work hard in school to achieve the goals you set out for yourselves, enjoy life with family and friends and most importantly have loads of fun while doing all this.

I see you both and see myself and your daddy in both of you, but you are version 2.0 of us, better models, the versions I hope I would have been – more confident, focused and less OCD!

So Happy 13th Birthday GG & BB! I am so proud of you….Welcome to the best years of your life – your teens!

Love,

Mum

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Happy Birthday to you….

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GG & BB turn 12 today. Happy Birthday my darlings! May you be always happy….

This year’s birthday is a very low-key one, what with the PSLE looming over us. We’ll probably do a nice celebration after the exams.

I still remember the day they were born. They were born at 36 weeks and 3 days, which is considered full term for twins, but were still a month away from their Expected Due Date. I was very reluctant to have the c-section my gynae had recommended and wanted to wait till they were ready to be born. But, my gynae was a bit concerned for GG as he felt she was smaller and hence may not be able to survive the trauma of birth. When put this way, how could I refuse, right?

I was also told that babies who are below 2 kg will be kept in the NICU and there was a possibility that GG or even BB may not weigh as much as we thought, so the first thing I asked around when I opened my eyes after surgery was how much the babies weighed and I was so elated when I heard both were healthy and above the 2 kg NICU limit. Due to their early birth, both had to spend time under the photo lights for jaundice, GG more than BB and so they got discharged a day later than me. I was able to go home before them, but I refused saying I will go home with my babies.

They’ve both grown into amazing almost teens, articulate and determined. GG, who is older than BB by 2 minutes is a determined and gutsy girl who loves reading, music and drawing! I have a feeling she is developing into a fashionista, but we’re a way to go there. She has her faults, the major one being her temper and stubbonness, but she is also a very loving girl with a big heart and one who makes friends very easily. She is a very people person and can relate to most of them all the time. She doesn’t like Maths but loves languages and hasn’t yet decided what she wants to do in life. I’ve often told her she would make a good lawyer, but GG is still not convinced. She has a great, powerful voice, and is very good in singing, but likes to ruin her voice by shouting at her brother.


BB on the other hand, is more of an introvert, who is most content using his electronic toys (laptops, tablets etc) playing his games. He has steadily been in love with planes since he was 2 and shows no signs of abandoning this love. His major criteria for choosing a secondary school next year is if they offer the Singapore Flying Club as a CCA. He wants to become a pilot, but is also majorly interested in Science, especially Physics. If he can do both – become an engineer and a Pilot, he will do it, until then he will I guess decide on his future somewhere between these two. He also reads, but not much of fiction. His preferred reading is books on science, which are mostly non-fiction. He loves reading books on planes and playing flight simulation games on his laptop. He is the more easygoing twin compared to GG, but he also has his times of stubbornness. His most hated subject is Hindi and when it’s time to study the subject, he comes up with so many inventive excuses why he should not study it. Other than this, he is quite good in studies, and if he overcomes his latent laziness, he can really be top in his class.

So a very happy birthday to both of you as you come to the end of your childhood and enter a new phase in life, both in terms of age as well as school. Be happy and always strive to do your best. Make us all proud of you! God bless you always….