Thursday, May 3, 2007

Homeward Bound



roma & jesse, 29th April 2007


Last Sunday, we sent Roma home.

The weeks leading to the day had been difficult. While we had done everything to ensure a smooth transition between the new maid and Roma, the biggest concern for us was how Jesse would take to his new Kakak. Roma had been with us since Jesse was merely 6 months old, and for the last two years she had been a pretty big part of his life. And so we spent many weeks prepping the boy for the day, explaining to him that his Kakak would be going home to her little girl, Yunita.

On Saturday, we introduced our son to Anie. It was awkward at first, but the boy warmed up quickly enough. Too quickly, in fact.

"Our son is a Faan Guat Jai," Mae exclaimed at how our traitorous little boy was now devoting all his attention to his new chaperon. I can only imagine that poor Roma might have felt slightly... erm... slighted. Still, the girl hides it well.

Then came Sunday. Roma was about to step into the departure hall, when I got the boy to say goodbye. "Buh-bye," the boy said, and then he added, "I love you, Kakak." And right there at the entrance of the departure hall, Roma broke down in sobs.

As as she stepped in, it occured to Jesse that that would be the very last time he would ever see his big sister again and our seemingly heartless little boy cried and cried. As he did, we did.

A chapter of our lives had come to a close, and that is always ocassion for a few tears.

22 comments:

  1. such a sweet ending to your family's chapter with Roma... hopefully my one will be a smooth ride till the end as well :)

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  2. gosh he's so sweet... my eyes teared when i read the part he said i love you kakak

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  3. *Sob* You made me cry with the "I love you, kakak" part.

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  4. Heart warming indeed.
    Jesse sentimental guy.

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  5. "heartless" ???
    he'd break every grrl's heart..i tell ya.
    look at that million dollar smile!!!
    *heart breakin'*

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  6. parting is such sweet sorrow. :( esp. when you had gotten so attached to the person.
    roma look so young here. how old is she?
    btw james, have you signed up for the bloggers gathering on 19 may? it's not too late to do so! would love to see you there.

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  7. Oh Gosh. I can hardly recognise Jesse. He's such a big boy now.

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  8. wah.... sob sob! :(

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  9. aw, that's nice. thank goodness you had a good maid, too many horror stories of runaways and weirdoes going around...

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  10. why don't you renew her permit and let her stay ? I did all the whole immigration/permit thingy myself and my maid will stay until..mmm as long as her services is needed lah

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  11. i must say that Roma kinda looks a bit like Nicol David

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  12. Awww...!!! poor Jesse..!!
    But you and Mae must have treated Roma really well too.. for her to be crying like that..??
    Good helps are hard to find.. but good employers are even harder to find.

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  13. That's really sweet. How is the lil fella now?
    BTW, I'd like to ask how come you can have a replacement so soon? My SIL has been waiting for almost a month now since her previous maid left. Maybe I should introduce your agent to her instead!

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  14. Good luck there, Egghead.
    Aww, Babe.
    Gina, I did coerce him a little... :)
    Almost makes up for his FaanGuat-ness, Jason. :lol:
    HAhah, MOTT, he's at that fake-smile stage of his life. I thought the smile was a little freaky. :lol:
    She's 25, Lucia. May 19 eh? We'll see.
    :lol: Mumsgather, maybe you dont recognise him cos we combed his hair.
    Maggie :)
    Well Simon, she did give us some excitement during her tenure, but luckily nothing overly psychotic.
    Well, Rose, we were never really comfortable with her ocassional demonic possessions. :lol:
    Duckie, she does eh? Hahahh! That's a first.
    We tried to be as decent to her as we could, MamaBok. I guess after 2 years, it probably does feel like you're leaving family.
    Kat, he still asks for her once in awhile. And we got our replacement quickly cos we made an application for the newbie a couple of months back. :)

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  15. It will be our turn comes end of next month. I still haven't prep my kids and my current worries is not how the kids will cope with kakak leaving but instead will my new maid be as reliable as this current one. :(

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  16. aiya the kid will adjust very fast one...my son had like a change of a string of kakaks...no problemo!

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  17. Oh, so touching! I cried when I read it. I have to brace myself too cos mine is leaving by end of this month after more than 6 years! I don't know how my No. 3 is going to take it! As much as she can get on my nerves at times, I know I'm going to miss her...! *sob sob* D**

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  18. Sniff.. made me tear too..
    ppl come ppl go
    what we do is not for show
    Touch our lives make us grow
    Pray the same for tomorrow
    Pray for peace and joy for Roma in her future and for the new one with you both.
    paste her picture lah.. we'll recognise her in church next.. and not some psycho kidnapping jesse..

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  19. I'm sure the new maid will eventually cope, Dragonmummy. We had a little trouble at the beginning too... but it's getting better.
    :lol: Wah, a string of them ah, Laundryamah? Like changing underwear. HAhahha!
    Awww, DancingQueen...
    Stevo: Not really lah... he seems to have forgotten all about her now.
    Good plan, Paulos. Will snap a mugshot soon. :)

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  20. This reminds me of Homeward Bound song by Simon and Garfunkel hmm

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  21. Was it really that good, BicaraTeruna? :lol:

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