Three Generations, One Mahjong Table
Mama plays steady, Aunty thinks twice,
Ah Girl throws tiles without much advice!
Win or lose, we laugh all the way,
Three generations, one lovely mahjong day!
In our family, there weren't exactly many qualified mahjong players.
There was Mama, of course.
Then there was me.
My daughter had what I would politely describe as half-past-six mahjong skills.
My son knew how to play too, but he was overseas.
As for Hubby, he couldn't read the Chinese characters on the mahjong tiles, so playing was out of the question!
So whenever we had the time, the three of us — Mama, Daughter and me — would sit down for a three-player game.
It wasn't really about winning money or seeing who was the mahjong champion of the family.
For me, there was another reason.
As Mama grew older, I wanted to keep her physically and mentally active. Mahjong gave her something to concentrate on. Her hands were busy with the tiles, her mind was busy thinking about the game, and most importantly, we were spending time together.
Sounds like a lovely, wholesome family activity, right?
HAHAHAHA.
That was before Mama started cheating us.
Me: “Mama! Where got like that play one?!”
Daughter: “Yah lor!”
Mama: 😇
And with Daughter's half-past-six skills and me trying to keep track of what was happening...
Mama had found herself two very convenient victims.
Our Kind Of Family Bonding
No matter how busy Daughter's work schedule became, whenever she could make the time, she would try her best to join us for a game with Mama.
Other families might bond over steamboat.
Our family bonded over mahjong.
No soup bubbling in the middle of the table.
Just...
PONG!
KONG!
GAME!
...and occasionally somebody accusing somebody else of cheating.
Even Hubby had an important role.
Did he play?
No.
He was our official Beverage Department.
Hubby: “Anybody wants a drink?”
Me: “Yes!”
Daughter: “Me too!”
Mama: eyes still on tiles 🀄👀
Hubby quietly serves everybody and retreats from the danger zone.
Smart man! No need to play, no need to lose money, and best of all, no need to kena scolded by Mama!
As the years went by, though, Daughter and I began noticing little changes in Mama.
She wasn't quite as quick with the tiles anymore.
The decisions that once came almost instantly sometimes took a little longer. Age was catching up with her, and we could see that the sharp, fast mahjong player we knew was gradually slowing down.
But that never stopped us from playing whenever we had the chance.
Because by then, winning wasn't really the important part.
Having Mama sitting there with us was. ❤️
Although...
I should make one thing perfectly clear.
Even after she slowed down...
Mama still cheated.
The Mahjong Expert... And The Two Tikam-Tikam Players
Mama wasn't playing with two opponents — Mama was playing chess while the two of us were throwing dice!
Now, Mama was no ordinary mahjong player.
She was skilled.
She knew how to hold her tiles, how to calculate what might be coming next, what other players were probably keeping, and she was never interested in winning small.
Mama always aimed BIG.
Then there were Daughter and me.
Our strategy?
Tikam tikam lah.
Daughter: “This one can throw or not?”
Me: “Can lah... I think.”
Daughter: “You sure?”
Me: “NO.”
If we managed to game, sometimes it wasn't because of brilliant strategy.
It was more like:
EH?! I GAME AH?!
Pure luck.
And THAT was where trouble started.
Because imagine Mama quietly building one beautiful, expensive hand...
Meanwhile, at the other end of the table:
Me: “Eh, I game!”
Mama:
Daughter: “Wah! So fast!”
Mama looks at her beautiful big hand.
Looks at my miserable little winning hand.
Looks back at me.
We had potong jalan.
And if Mama had been holding a really big hand when either Daughter or I accidentally ended the game first...
Die liao.
Not because we lost.
Because we WON.
More Than Just A Game
Looking back now, those mahjong sessions were never really about who won or lost.
Okay lah...
Maybe to Mama they were.
To Daughter and me, however, they became something much more precious.
No matter how busy life became, whenever we could find the time, the three of us would sit around that table together. Hubby would appear with our drinks, tiles would be shuffled, somebody would pong, somebody would game, and sooner or later...
Me: “MAMA! YOU CHEAT AGAIN!”
Mama: “Where got? You don't know how to play!”
Daughter: “Mummy, forget it lah. We cannot win her one.”
As Mama grew older and her hands became slower and her decisions took a little longer, perhaps the game became even more meaningful.
We weren't merely keeping her mind and hands active.
We were making memories together.
Today, when I think about those mahjong sessions, I don't remember how many games I won.
I don't remember what tiles I was holding.
And I certainly don't remember how much Mama won from us.
What I remember is Mama sitting at that table with us. ❤️
And if I could sit across from her for another game, knowing full well that she was going to cheat...
Sorry.
WIN.
I'd happily let her win all over again.
Treasure What We Have Now
My daughter once said something to me that stayed in my mind:
“We should treasure what we have now, not keep brooding over what we had before. We only live once.”
She's right.
We cannot turn the clock backwards, and we cannot keep living our lives wishing yesterday would return.
What we can do is treasure the people who are sitting beside us today. Spend time together when we can. Laugh over silly things. Make ordinary days worth remembering.
Perhaps that's what those mahjong sessions taught me too.
At the time, it was simply three generations sitting around a table — Mama, Daughter and me — with Hubby faithfully running the Beverage Department.
We didn't know that one day those ordinary afternoons would become precious memories.
So nowadays, I try to remember:
Treasure what you have now.
Because sometimes the moments that seem completely ordinary today are the very ones we'll hold closest tomorrow. ❤️
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