Tok ton the mother in law.

 

Why did I write so much about her?

She who was an old lady so frail that the wind could blow her away at less than a puff.

Poor mum had so many folds in her life and I wish to remember and emulate her as a mother in law .Who knows in future I would be a mil if God’s willing?

Tok Ton is a mil to 6 daughters and sons in laws. 6? Emmm 6.

These are some of her traits that I observed and hope I too could be one.

• no dil or sil are bad in the eyes of others.

Mum always have good words for her children's  spouses.She makes it a point not to tell or say bad things about them in front of others. She would shush us up when we would start gossiping about her other daughters and sons in laws. So much so that in 30 years or more none of her menantus could relate an event that tok ton mengata mereka kat menantu lain.

• her menantus are her children.

She was going to Mecca. And she would like to leave her little belongings to her children. I was surprised when she included her daughters  in law too.

Even when cooking ,she would try to cook what her menantus would like to eat.Timbullah kata kata :si polan suka masak ni.Besok mak nak masak ,sbb depa nak balik.

And her menantu perempuan learned a lot of cooking tips from her.

• her menantus walau hantus are good in her eyes.

Sometimes I was like angry with her.In 40 years ada juga lah menantu yang terpeleot . Ada  juga lah rumah yang tercabut bumbung kena angin  puting beliung. But she was one mother in law yang very forgiving. Always forgiving. And she was the one yang paku balik bumbung bumbung itu.

She had not harbour angry feelings towards her menantu even when the worst had been done. Ah mulia nya hati.

Those were some of her traits that I would like to emulate.So that my menantus  would love me like tok ton and her menantus.I could see menantus tok ton respect and sayang kat dia. Bukan setakat tanya. Dah makan ke belum!

Agak agak la kalau tok ton bukan tok ton ,berapa agaknya rumahtangga anak anak menantunya rebah sujud ke bumi.

Thats why I love you ,mother dearest! And pakli respects you so much.