And baby’s ‘full moon’ makes four
That’s how many reasons new dad Allan Ng Yih Seong and his family have to make Fathers Day extra joyful.
This year, a family of seven who survived Covid-19 together will be having their most special Fathers Day yet as they cherish and celebrate their head of household, Dr Samsu Ambia Ismail.
Dr Samsu Ambia, who is Teluk Intan Hospital Emergency and Trauma Department head, said being warded and quarantined together as Covid-19 patients had strengthened his family’s bond.
“Before this, we never really celebrated Fathers Day, but this year we will be together cooking and enjoying home-cooked meals while flashing back on past memories, so we can have a deeper appreciation.
“Being former Covid-19 patients has really changed our perspective on things. When you almost lose something, you tend to appreciate it more. We really bonded and united as a family when we were at the hospital and later during quarantine at home,” he said yesterday.
Dr Samsu Ambia, 49, tested positive for the virus on March 22 before his wife Mazriemi Mohd Zaki, 40, their children Erika Syamim, 18, Elisya Syamim, 15, Edriena Syamim, 13, Eryna Syamim, 11 and Eiman Syamim, eight, followed suit.
Before their discharge from the Teluk Intan Hospital in early April, the upbeat family became a social media sensation for a feel-good, creative TikTok video they made while being warded.
Dr Samsu Ambia said his family was never one to go all out in celebrating Fathers Day and that they were simply content to have some family time at home.
“We will cook some special dishes. The process itself is better than going to a restaurant and looking at our phones while waiting for our food to arrive.
“For this Fathers Day, I would also like to remind all Malaysians to really appreciate fathers while they are still around. When they are gone, our lives will have something missing and we will feel incomplete,” he added.
As for the family of Muhammad Roland Ong Abdullah, they had never given much thought to Fathers Day or Mothers Day before. Their focus had always been on birthday celebrations.
However, the father of five children, aged between eight and 19, said this year was special as the pandemic and the movement control order (MCO) had taught them to appreciate things more.
This year’s Fathers Day was made even more meaningful as relaxation on interstate travels allowed Muhammad Roland’s father-in-law, Ahmad Tajuddin Hassan, 80, to finally return to Selangor after three months of being in Gopeng, Perak.
“When my parents-in-law returned a few days ago, we decided to celebrate Fathers Day together because we are so glad to be reunited.
“We will go out for dinner on Fathers Day. Before this, we didn’t celebrate such things.
“But having experienced the MCO, we have learnt to appreciate simple things like going to restaurants and sitting down for a meal together,” said the 48-year-old.
Muhammad Roland, a general contractor, said the MCO had shifted his perspective as a father and he was glad for the time that his family spent together at their home in Kelana Jaya.
“I thought I knew my children but I got to know them even more during the MCO period.
“Families, including my father’s generation, have never been through something like that, whereby we were all together at home during a pandemic. It was a unique experience we enjoyed,” he added.
His Fathers Day wish is for a vaccine for Covid-19 to be found soon and for it to be available at an affordable price or be subsidised by the government.