Just the way you are

!(imgcenter)http://farm1.static.flickr.com/66/184837682_d4db80c904.jpg(Squirt, Popartgirl and I!)!:http://www.flickr.com/photos/yannie/184837682/

Over the weekend, we sat in the pews and watched as Dorothea tied the knot.

It was rather surreal to watch her walk up the aisle on the arms of her father, as Melvyn stood at the front, serenading her. Suddenly, I had mental images of her in her VJC uniform stropping around the school grounds, of her hugging her little elephant stuffed toy, of her gurgling in delight over a joke someone made, of her letting me rest my head wearily on her shoulder whenever I felt down.

And then I saw her sitting on the train with us, as we made our long journey back from Boon Lay to the east. We sat there, flipping through magazines, listening to Billy Joel’s “Just the way you are”, sneakily munching on Old Chang Kee curry puffs, snoozing away, or just chatting. I remembered how we had gone to Mango one day after school to try on “work clothes” and her woebegone face when she pulled open the curtains to lament that nothing fitted and our hysterical laughter when we saw the thigh-high pile of clothes inside the dressing room.

And then she was telling me all about Melvyn and how wonderful he is while we were sitting in the MacDonald’s at Siglap, we started calling him Melvyn the Electrician, she was describing to me how he proposed while we chatted over MSN, she was commanding us to be in charge of her ang pow box and we were joking that we would RSVP to Melvyn.

And I couldn’t help but tear.

Dearest Dotz, I don’t know if you will see this but I am so glad to see you happily married to someone you love so truly and wholeheartedly. May your marriage be blessed with lots of joy, laughter and love and remember, always have a spare lightbulb in the house. Love, yAnn.