JUST TO SHARE (Lau Tai Onn): A Brief Account Of My Attendance At Dr JB Lim’s 82nd Birthday Dinner on 20/03/2021

On 17^th March, 2021, Dr. JB Lim emailed me an invitation to his 82^nd birthday dinner on Saturday, 20^th March, 2021. He specifically mentioned that he would be observing and not celebrating this birthday. In view of the current strict CMCO (due to Covid-19) SOP requirements and sitting restrictions of many restaurants he had inquired (i.e. maximum 8 persons for the biggest table available), he could only invite 3 close friends in addition to his family members of 5.

I promptly accepted his invitation to make up for my absence in his 80^th birthday gathering on 20^th March, 2019 as I joined a group tour to Jeju Island, Korea from 19^th March, 2019 to 23^rd March, 2019.

It is indeed a great honour to me as I was one of the 3 guests invited by Dr. Lim amid this difficult time of the Covid-19 pandemic and also his own leg ulcer wound which has yet to be healed.

In spite of his intention to keep his birthday “observation” low-profile and the dinner “secretive” because he could not invite as many friends as he liked, I decided to do the following 3 things for him:

1. I went to Aeon Cheras Selatan mall on Friday, 19th March, 2021 to buy a gift for him (2 boxes of Cane’s tea bags with a free gift of humidifier) although he told me not to bring any gift. I added a can of dried mulberries imported from China which I recently ordered through Lazada.

2. I woke up from my bed after midnight at 1.35am on Saturday, 20^th March, 2021 to post a birthday-wish message in our “What’s Up Ox” chat group to alert all the participants (currently stood at 81) about Dr. Lim’s 82^nd birthday on that day without mentioning anything else. Sure enough, many friends of Dr. Lim poured in their well-wishes/messages into the chat group throughout the day.

3. I received Dr. Lim’s suggestion on 17^th March, 2021 (via the same email he invited me to his birthday dinner) to post into my blog his recent article on his experience as a patient in Hospital KL from 23/12/2020 till 25/1/2021 for his leg ulcer problem as well as a comprehensive discourse on “the difference between healing, curing, treating and managing a disease”. I purposely delayed the posting and did it only on 20th March, 2021 as a “birthday gift”.

On Saturday afternoon, 20^th March, 2021, I left home at 5.30pm to drive to Chef Hong Kitchen Restaurant at Section 19 of PJ. I reached there at about 6.15pm. As Dr. Lim’s dinner was fixed from 7.00pm till 8.30pm, I could only wait outside the restaurant in my car until the right time to go in.

Dr. Lim came with his wife Sally, son Benjamin and daughter-in-law Joceylin Ong and his eldest daughter Linda. Ms. Josephine Wong was present and the other friend of Dr. Lim didn’t show up.

It was a pleasant evening and I enjoyed a good chat with Dr, Lim besides savoring the delicious dishes. We had a birthday cake cutting ceremony after the meal and taken some photos for remembrance.

Dr. Lim was in good mood and very talkative with me throughout the dinner, although his leg pain still existed. I saw him carrying a walking stick chair as we left the restaurant at about 8.45pm.

I returned home at about 9.20pm.

A picture speaks a thousand words. Let’s look at some photos taken on the evening.

I arrived at the restaurant early at 6.16pm

A pose with Dr. Lim before the dinner was served

A group photo of the diners (Pic. from left seated: Dr. JB Lim, the blogger, Josephine Wong: Pic from left standing: Benjamin, Sally (Mrs. Lim), Linda and Joceylin)