The Old White Mug

The word 'graduation' reminds me of this white mug at home which has this question printed in it,right at the brink of the mug's rim : How do you spell r-e-l-i-e-f? I was 7 when I first came in contact with that mug,drinking hot milo out of it.And being incredibly enthusiastic, I spelled the word relief to that mug as if I was in a spelling test,(my favourite part during the English class!).
R-E-L-I-E-F...there you go..I was so proud of myself for being able to spell correctly and even checked the dictionary twice,just to be sure.Feeling triumphant,I treated myself to 'Air Batu Campur' that very evening.


A few years later, I was using that same white mug to drink tea and once again saw the question. Being idle at that time, I pondered over that question over and over again.Oh, it was a no brainer that the answer was actually right in front of my naked eyes! The word r-e-l-i-e-f  was there! I murmured,ironically telling myself how stupid the mug was and not me.I meticulously looked for the answer by searching the mug thoroughly.Ooh..it was on the outer part of the mug! There printed : Answer:G-R-A-D-U-A-T-I-O-N.

So, that's the answer..but why graduation?It asked me to spell relief..My small brain could not figure out that it was simply a riddle/joke.A simple, funny one.

Sad to say, I figured the whole thing out during the break after SPM. I had forgotten all about it when I left for boarding school.For the last 7 years since my last try-out, the mug had been laughing at me (I imagine). "How silly!" it would say and flashed its sardonic grin to me.
Now that I'm more often home, I got to use that mug often too.Looking back at the question,I just shoved a smile at that old mug and finished my drinks.If it could really hear me, I'd like to tell 'it' this:

Dear Old White Mug,
You've been there long enough for my parents,then for me and  my sisters in that house.Thank you for being there and be our faithful mug all these years and bore all kinds of temperature that we poured into you.I'll make sure I won't break you to pieces.Say,perhaps for many it might seems that graduation is the end of everything.You finish studying, secured a job and settled down.That's it?Life's so over? Well, I do not think so.In fact I'm worried to the max as this would just be the beginning.Life has just begun.I can't tell what the future holds for me.If you just stood tall and think about it for a sec.So, you might want to tell your children not to put that kind of question anymore.Perhaps another good joke would do.You'll thank me for telling you this.Oh,I forgot..you can't. Try to take care.