called by my maiden name...

i have always refered to myself as Janie Chan and never Janie Yap or "Yip Tai" (Mrs Yap).
AMD, yaya, ah-ku, ah-yee and the rest of the Chans and Ngs refers to me as "B-GAL". it has been like that since day 1 right up till today even when i have 2 kids, uncle Richard (li-ku or 2nd uncle) still shouts from a far to me as "B-gaaaaaal". i do not mind the nickname at all, infact i feel very attached and pamperred when called by that name...

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ah-ku somehow different from the rest, he calls me "banarbee" most of the time;
"how did he adopt this strange name? - good question!
when i was 7 or 8 years old (can't remember), yaya used to own a few horses, one of them is "Banarbee". Banarbee is fat, not much of a use, have not won any race at all for yaya, all he did was sleep and incur costs...so ah-ku thought i looked a bit like Banarbee...so the name!
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old friends like uncle billy, uncle allan, aunt jessica etc...still uses that name on me, but never would i have imagined my own daughter calling me "B-Gal"!

it was late last night when my sugar-coated daughter calls out for "mami", i was playing hide & seek with her, she called a few times "mami", then as she was still searching for me, she called
"Janie Chan Yap"...i resisted my laughter, still behind a cupboard, she called out again - this time a pro-long "Bbbbbbbbb-Gal"

i frowned/flat lips and waited patiently for her to find me, she turned to AMD who was busy applying night cream:-

Renee: "ah-mi darleng, B-gal leh, kui hai pin tou ah?" (where is B-gal, where is she?)
AMD: "ng chee wo, lei hui wan kui la, lei joi kiu B-gal la" (don't know, you go look for her, call out that name again)
Renee: "B-gal, mami, Janie Chan Yap"

Mami: cannot tahan my laughter anymore, bursted out laughing and ran out to cuddle my sugar-coated daughter - "Sugar, mami is here"
Renee: "hah, B-gal hai tou wo..." (hah...B-gal is here wo)

God knows when she will surprice me by calling me "banarbee"...