Fishy Story

Eric on whatsapp chat: Hey you!

Me: Hey, hey Hibiki!

Eric: How’s life? How are you doin’?

and 15 min chat later ..

Eric: How’s your mum?

Me: Really good, thanks for asking.

Eric: You see her often?

Me: Yea, every week.

Eric: What’s her address? I’ll send her live fish. I got a good source. All good stuff. Sends by air interstate.

Sends me a video of his fishes:

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77e347_50c3d03dee064a89a1668c8e1ca8234f/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Old Friends

Eric is my oldest primary school classmate. We go waay back from prep, five years old to high school in Jakarta. He has lived in Australia ever since graduating from high school.

Running a successful bottle shop and seafood import business now, Eric is what you would call a hopeless nostalgic.

Although he too has not seen most of our classmates since high school - and that’s a loooonnng time, believe me - he has this romanticized image of old school friends being the best ones.

That said, he is though, the most connected among all our 40+ classmates, male, female alike. He knows what Daisy does for a living, when William has just had a pair of twins, when Jay moved to Canada, why Susan is separated and Debby getting a divorce. And all of that maintained through a virtual connection, as none of them live in Australia.

So, I've got to hand it to him.

Back to the fish.

A few days later, at our door:

Two very active red groupers. Each one 1.2 kg.

Time to Whatsapp mom to the rescue.

“What? Live fish?? No way! I've never killed A FISH! They kill and clean for us in the market.”, said mom panicking.

With Super-mom out of the picture, I headed to my go-to saviour:

I discover :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs9TUrCHjns

*WARNING! Lots of blood. DO NOT click if you haven't got the stomach for it.

Perhaps a useful source to some of you, who may one day embark on the bold feat to kill a fresh fish. :-)

Grateful

As for mom and her red grouper - I found a nearby restaurant happy to cook for us (being that we were one of their most loyal dining customers, even during the pandemic).

A few of mom and dad's friends were invited as the fish was plenty to feed all.

Another blessed week.

As much as it is always a grateful experience to enjoy good food, it is especially joyful to see friends and family having a good time together, and warmed at the presence of thoughtful friends - even those miles away.

Happiness is that simple.