The strong women in my life

Living with strong women feels like being on the set of a Disney or Ridley Scott movie. I've always had prominent feminine figures in my life - granny, mum and Wifey. Mum and Wifey have one thing in common - a tough childhood. Abusive care-givers, poverty, you name it, they've experienced it.

Mum never had formal education, and learned what she knows from the toughest school possible, the school of life. She was such a daring and tough nut she moved over to Australia to find opportunities even without being able to converse in English then. Thirty years and many colorful experiences later, she can win any verbal fight with the roughest and toughest of working-class Aussies, and once going toe to toe with a police officer who falsely accused her of a crime she didn't commit. My mum supported me through my teenage years during the 80s when the exchange rate made it very worthwhile to send money back to Singapore. I would not be where I am today without my mum.

Wifey grew up without the certainty of when the next meal would be provided. She sold the evening newspapers at the age of nine to supplement family income. She's a naturally intelligent woman who, for the lack of opportunity, did not progress very far in school. Like my mum, she picked up fluent English as an adult in the working world. And just like mum, I've learned early on in our relationship to never mess with her unless I want to beat a full retreat. Wifey supported me, and believed in me even when I did not. She gave me courage to do things that I wouldn't have otherwise tried.

There are strong women, and there is Mum and Wifey. I love my mum, I love my wife.