I first know P’Nammon (aka “Mama”) from my summer program in 2005. I was not ‘claimed’ as “her daughter” back then but I was her alarm clock. Every morning, I walked down the hall, knocked on her door, opened it slightly and said ‘good morning.’ She often rewarded me and my roommate, GiftV, with candies and some great conversations at night. When she felt like we were working too hard, she told us to go to bed and sometimes tucked us in, just to make sure we don’t stay up too late.
After my prep school year, I moved to California for college. She became my chat buddy at late night pacific time when all others on the east coast were already sleeping. As we talked more and more, I became one of her daughters (aka ลูกกระต่าย). She started calling herself ‘Mama’ and slowly became an away-from-home mother. She would call me to wake me up after my long nights, listened to me when I needed someone to talk to, corrected my grad school essays, checked on me whether I survived a big pile of undergraduate course loads. Apart from my own parents, she played an important part in helping me graduated and got into graduate schools.
For the past six years that we have known each other, one thing Mama never failed at is teasing me. She happened to be one of the very few that was allowed to do so, and she made sure she took the advantage of it. After the teases, she put on her evil smiles with her sparkly eyes. I tried to get back to her many times, but it seems like I was never at the same level in terms of teasing people and finally I was teased again. I am not good at telling stories but here are some of her words which hopefully will explain it.
“miss you and your ___งอน already.... :)” facebook post regarding how much she missed me after I left her apartment in Santa Barbara (with her evil smile). The word in the blank is censored. =P
“Miss (teasing) you already. Thanks for the weekend. Good luck with work ka.” Her first sentence in the text message said it all.
“If you worked during holidays, something bad would happen to your compounds” She threatened me when I was thinking of going to lab during thanksgiving, and it worked, I did not go and spent time with her instead.
“มาหาหม่าม๊าเลย มาให้โดนแกล้งซะดีๆ =)” She convinced me to go see her in SB so that she can pick on me, of course, with an evil smile at the end.
Apart from that, Mama is a music lover. A lot of our conversations were about the songs that she likes and sometimes the songs that described her state of mind. We often referred back to the songs when we wanted to tease each other. And, yes, she teased people using pop songs as well. Her phone ringtones are highly personalized. Each of us got a special ringtone which describes the story that we shared with her. I am sure every time I called, she would get to laugh a bit before picking it up. Knowing how I disliked Bie’s cheesy songs, Mama made a playlist of those songs just for me. She played the list on repeat whenever I visited her. Sometimes the songs came with the dance accompanied with her evil smiles, just to annoy me further.
Although things have changed, the memory remained. It is indeed beautiful and very inspiring. I want to thank everything that brought me to her. She, herself, is wonderful and fun to be with. Getting to know her is probably one of great things that happened to me. I will greatly miss her evil smiles and her teases, the songs and her dance moves.
My dear Mama, I will not forget how many great things you have done for me. I will not forget all those trips to Santa Barbara and your trips to Stanford and Berkeley. I will not forget the times that we talked and teased each other. Apart from yourself, you have brought me so many wonderful people, including three sisters =). I cannot promise not to cry when thinking of you but the tears will be tears of happiness and appreciation.
I will miss your dearly.
Your Loog Kratai
Annie Teera Chantarojsiri
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