The brother has gone off for a holiday in Hong Kong and Macau thereby leaving a void in Mother’s daily routine. Whenever he’s away, she’ll say her ‘sim kon mao on lok‘.
I know that’s a horrible phonetication (Is that a word??!! Haha, I’m making things up now!) of the Hakka dialect but heck, who’d know?? The literal translation I guess would be ‘heart/soul not comfortable’. It translates to meaning that there’s an uneasiness in her heart/soul. What she really means is, take me out for a car ride, take me shopping, take me anywhere but here! It’s a tireless cycle and an even more tiring one for the assigned carer of the day.
So when I get those rare moments where she just sits on our sofa and chills in front of the tv, I get to enjoy my own moment of ‘on lok‘ (comfort) and I treasure the breather greatly.
