I know someone who's 'misplaced' her spectacles on her own nose (and searched unsuccessfully for them for 15 excrutiating minutes); who'd get genuinely upset if I made fun of her favourite doggy's long snout... "she understands, you know!"...; whose eyes lit up at the mention of a visit to Corner House for her "regular" icecream..."extra lychees and no dates again, madam?"...; who's secretly enjoyed every last one of my worst puns and put on an extremely pained expression just for effect (that's what they mean by "motherly effects-on"!).
It was five years ago that we last met in person. Since then, I've visited five continents and lived in six cities. In each of these places, I've been welcomed and pampered by family and friends with a warmth I cannot describe. She is there in each tight hug, in the specially cooked chicken curries, in the visits to shopping malls to set up my apartment, in lectures from aunts about unwashed socks, in the slurpy kisses from friendly dogs and in all the other unadulterated affection I've received wherever I've gone.
She is no longer here.
But she is everywhere.
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