My 20s

I had never befriended any girl before Mabel. Then I was twenty one. As a teenager I had none. The only girl I knew was my cousin sister Catherine. She was the daughter of my mother’s sister. We grew up together. She was one year younger than me. She got married young. We were lost touch after her marriage. The last time I met her was forty years ago.

So when I was with Mabel, it was my first experience with a girl. I never went beyond holding her hands and kissing her. She was someone I would always remember. We lost touch again.

My first encounter with the mother of my three daughters was quite unexpected. After Mabel I was never with anybody because of my miserable earning. My next move was to improve myself financially. I could not afford to have any commitment. It was a mistake to have a relationship without being responsible. Chastity does not matter in today’s society unlike those days.

My first job after school was a tool store keeper in an automobile workshop. I was there for a year. In my next job I was sent to Singapore for training as a accounting system salesman. I held on to the job for six months.

After that, my classmate’s uncle gave me a job in his company. During my schooldays I became his family’s friend. These were the people who helped me in my life. He was a Class A Electrical Contractor. I learned how to do tender estimation. I resigned in 1969. The pay was still miserable after working for four years and the company was making good money from the two projects which I worked on. From then, I went job hopping going for the better income whenever there was the opportunity. I had no loyalty for any employer. That is the world out there with the fittest survives.

I did not realize then that we are conditioned beings and at the same time we are also conditioning the lives of those connected to us.