Had a mini celebration at home on mom's birthday-cum-early-retirement last week. I remember when we were young, Han and I used to grab any random thing at home, wrapped it up and gave it to mom as her birthday present. She used to laugh and kiss us both although it was such a silly thing to do. Now that we're older, gifts and birthday to-dos give me headaches because I come up with something novel every year. Mom always says that us being 'not-naughty' would be the perfect present for her but I love buying her things because she's always sacrificing for us. She's the kind of mom that'll forgo buying new clothes so that she'll have more to spend on us instead. My mom used to say she was afraid of growing older, of the silver strands of hair and crow's feet at her eyes. But now she says that she's embracing the process of ageing and that it can be beautiful too. Anyway, my mom will always be the woman I model after my entire life because she's taught me so much the past 19-odd years. They say daughters take after their moms, and I hope I'll be like mine.