Rebirth

What's in a name? "Denise", as many of you affectionately know me by, was given to me by a random stranger more than a decade back. Never have I thought I would be using this name till this very day. 

Yeye was the one who gave me my Chinese name. My parents, a conventional lot and both Chinese-educated, would not have given me an English name even if they wanted to. No one seemed to know the meaning of my name. I often ask Mum and all she ever gave was a shrug of her shoulder and a blank look. Dad tried harder but could never give me a satisfactory answer. I finally figured and accepted down the road that my name bears no significance or special meaning. Did yeye simply randomly choose my name? I seriously wonder sometimes. And I wished I had asked him when he was around.

But don't belittle my name "Siow Wei". There is a Chinese song titled after it, which was once very popular and could be heard day-in day-out on radio stations and television programmes. Even my Dad could sing it and would do so at times during KTV sessions. Although every time I hear him do that, I shudder.

"Denise" has been my loyal follower for a good half of my life. It was time to make "Denise" official and give her a proper status. So I did. When I walked out of the lawyer's office this arvo, I had with me a deed poll and my new name - Chin Siow Wei, Denise. I felt like a newborn. I held the deed poll in my hand like it was my second birth certificate.

Today marks a new beginning for me in ways more than one. The separators in-between my teeth are indeed an annoyance, just like the doctor said. But they are just the beginning of further annoyances to come in the next 18 months.