All Dressed Up

"Ayah!" Wifey called out to me from the living room, "Take a picture of Sonny."

All dressed up in his white, long-sleeved school shirt, his brown tie and that distinguished Dunman Secondary School blazer, Sonny was all ready and handsome looking young man.

Sonny was going back to school this afternoon, right after Friday prayers, for his school's 48th anniversary and official opening ceremony after it went through several years of infrastructure upgrade under PRIME project by the Ministry of Education.

Sonny was to man his station - showing the guest of honour, his team's Life Science Apple iPod App they self-developed during the intended tour of the school's facilities.

A few poses for pictures were "forced" out from this handsome but reluctant young man for his parents' sacred memories... and there he went off at 2:00PM to school.

The ceremony was to start by 5:00PM with the guest of honour being the prominent figure in this country, the distinguished Dr. Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence.

Fortunately, being in the executive committee of the school's parent support group - as vice chairman of DSP, I was invited too, to be able to witness Sonny experience this historic event in his life.

It was my turn to get all dressed up. Formal attire requested, it has been ages since I wore a tie to an event. In white and light blue pin stripes, long-sleeved shirt, dark pants and a dark grey tie, the tight around the neck seemed to choke me the moment I buttoned up. I could never be comfortable wearing a tie...


"Wait!" Wifey stopped before I stepped out of the front door. "Let me get the camera..." Wifey hurried off to my gym room to get it.

"Set the camera for me and let me take your picture." She handed it to me as soon as she came back to the living room.

Like Sonny, a few poses for the camera and off I went to Sonny's school. It was a pity that Wifey was not invited to the event. She would have loved to watch Sonny in action. A great "family outing." Also, I would be much more comfortable if she were there with me... being surrounded by all those elite educators, high achievers and high society people, I was like a fish out of water... choking, hard to breathe... all nerves. The tie made it worse.

Anyway, to be there to witness Sonny interacting with the Minister while he toured the school grounds, it was one of Sonny's important life experiences that I would not miss for the world. It was all worth it. Well done, Sonny!

Congratulations to Dunman Secondary School for this proud milestone!