You know that these people are the best you’ve got when they remember your birthday, no not the usual date but the Chinese lunar calendar birthday. Cos even I don’t remember that myself. Cos seriously, who tracks the lunar calendar except for when counting down the days to Chinese New Year, right?

Two Sundays ago, 2 weeks before my normal usual birth date, I was back home in KL, and my mom and sis gave me a surprise with a birthday cake! Cos it was my Chinese birthday the next day. It was a great surprise obviously since I wasn’t expecting any cake until 2 weeks later. And it made my day. Because I was in a lousy mood all day with an unstable tummy full of acid and such, but they still went out and got me a pandan layer cake – the most neutral cake there is for an upset tummy, sans chocolate and butter cream. And of course since then, I’ve discovered that pandan layer cake from King’s Cake House is delicious and have added it to my list of “yummy cakes that I can afford”.

You know that this person’s the best you’ve got when she volunteers to travel half the peninsular and cross the straits on a weekend just to come and help you move out.

Nevermind the fact that this is probably part of a domestic plan of my sister tse mei to help me select kitchen utensils and rearrange my fridge. It is still something that made my day, because she knows I hate moving. I hate packing, I hate moving and I hate unpacking. And it is so nice to know someone would travel 300km to help me do that. It actually doesn’t make any sense cos she wouldn’t really have a place to stay before I shift out, so I told her to come after that, but it was a nice offer that made my day. So, it’s ok, we can always go Ikea later on and pick out some odds and ends for my new room, ya?

You also know that this person’s the best you’ve got when he cares even though he doesn’t say much and constantly worries if you are surviving well away from home with enough money.

My dad doesn’t really say much, but I know he cares when he asks me if I have found a room to rent, or if I have enough allowance money to pay my rental deposit, or if I have settled my visa application to Japan, or asks if I got my air tickets yet, and wakes up at 6am to pick me up from the train station when I arrive early.

So, yes, this post is dedicated to my family. I guess there are few people who’d stick by you at all times. And family most likely makes up the majority of the group already. My darling au yong is the other person in this group of “people-who’d-stick-by-you-at-all-times”, cos he’d also wake up at 6 to pick me up from the train station, and be my remote tech-support buddy anywhere anytime. Or listen to me ramble and rant, and help me find ads for room rentals online from across the choppy oceans. Or giving me support when I feel like crap even though he’s got his fare share of problems as well. Or just plain annoying me and making me laugh after that by setting up some stupid joke that I will gullibly *always* fall for.

Ok, so correction there. This post is dedicated to the important people in my life who are indispensable to me. smiley You rock!!