A magical journey
For this father, raising two boys with his wife is simply a wondrous experience.
ON June 17, 1972, I married my lovely wife, Agnes Tan, a former model and criminal lawyer’s secretary, in Penang. At that time I was an executive attached to the multinational Tobacco Company. A few months later, I was transferred to Kuala Lumpur. A year after that, my wife gave birth to our first child, Leonard.
Weighing a hefty 4.1kg, our son was born by caesarean. As a first-time father, I was very excited and thrilled with our bouncing baby. My wife was overjoyed as she’d always wanted boys in our family. She herself has seven brothers and eight sisters – a record that I had no intention of replicating!
Leonard’s birth brought us luck as I got promoted. We moved to Ipoh a month later, for my new post as a manager.
A few years later, my second son, Larry, came along, also through caesarean; he tipped the scales at 4.16kg. Like Leonard, Larry was a big and bouncing baby.
Although I was busy with work most of the time, raising my two sons had never been a problem for me, as I have a loving and caring wife to look after them. Not earning much then, I was happy to have just two kids.
The boys were generally healthy growing up, so it was a pleasure taking care of them. As my wife is a fashionista, whenever I had free time, I would accompany her and the kids – even at a young age – to get the latest fashion. My wife started grooming them from an early age to have a presentable image and good manners. I have a whole lot of photos that recorded every stage of their development.
In the wink of an eye, my two sons are grown up and married. Interestingly, they share similar talents and professions. They are top executives at multinational pharmaceutical companies, and are both entertainers as well. Leonard is a magician-cum-clown while Larry is a mentalist.
It all started more than 25 years ago when they got hooked on the art of magic through TV. Coincidentally, my wife had a friend who was a famous magician in Bangkok, Thailand. He was kind enough to mentor my kids. Along the way they upgraded their skills through master magicians from Russia, Singapore and the United States. At that time, there was only a handful of magicians in Malaysia.
Leonard is passionate when it comes to entertaining adults and children with his sig- nature acts. His motto has always been “practise to perfection”. Every day I would see him work on his magic tricks and sleight of hand.
Larry, on the other hand, was inspired by a Russian magician who introduced him to mentalism and hypnosis. He adapted what he’d learnt from international mentalists and came up with his own art form.
Leonard and Larry are now members of world bodies like the International Magicians Society, and the US-based International Brotherhood of Magicians.
Some 20 years ago when they started performing, my wife and I would play the roles of their agent; their mother acted as the manager while I fetched them throughout Malaysia to perform – from Kedah to Johor. It certainly required sacrifices from all parties. Thinking back, it was well worth it. What made our sons happy made me and my wife happy. We always gave them our full support and encouragement.
We are indeed a happy and close-knit family – in every sense of the word. My sons and their wives even live close by in their respective homes within the same vicinity as us in Ipoh.
I always tell my sons that we should strive to develop virtuous qualities by committing meritorious acts for as long as we live, so our discontentment is cleared away; thus, removing suffering from our minds, leaving only bliss. It’s a philosophy I hold fast to, and I am happy to note that my wife and I now lead contented lives. I am in my 60s, retired and relaxed, spending my days going places with my lovely wife or helping her maintain her garden at our villa.
Of course, we can’t be more proud to see our sons turning out to be independent, caring and successful individuals.