Mother was certainly very happy when I called just now and wished her Happy Mother's Day but she also reminded me once again that her own birthday falls on the 9th day of the 9th month of the traditional Chinese calendar. Next year, the ex-village girl from Batu Gajah in Perak's Kinta Valley will proudly - and with a perfectly clear conscience - celebrate her 80th birthday with five of her six children as university graduates and all of them as independent, responsible and productive true adults without ever becoming members of the MCA.