I didn’t expect this Thursday to feel like a soft circle closing, but that’s exactly what happened when I followed my husband to Jakarta and got dropped off at JW Marriott Kuningan. I wasn’t there for lunch or a meeting of my own. I was there to see two people who have quietly shaped so much of the way I understand myself and others: my MBTI mentor, Mr. Robbins, and his colleague, Cally, from The Myers-Briggs Company Singapore.
It was my first time meeting Cally in person. Until today, she only existed as an email signature and a WhatsApp profile picture, the friendly voice who processed all my MBTI indicator orders. But with Mr. Robbins, it felt like an old movie warming up again. He trained me back in Bali in August 2018. Seven years ago. A different version of me. A different chapter of my life.
He greeted me with exactly the kind of scolding you’d expect from someone who knows you well enough to be annoyed. Where have you been. Why don’t you ever contact me. And why, in the world, have you come to Singapore multiple times without even texting. I could only laugh and say sorry because somehow, those complaints felt like affection disguised as annoyance.
We talked for two whole hours, from eleven to one. The conversation moved the way good conversations always do, naturally, almost musically. Updates about life now. How MBTI has quietly, steadily strengthened my relationship with my husband, my children, my network. How it opens new ways to listen, to understand, to soften the edges of conflict. How the industry needs it more than ever, not only in corporate spaces but also in counseling rooms and classrooms. How our world keeps asking for more awareness, more language, more tools to understand the self.
Before we said goodbye, they handed me a small gift: an MBTI T-shirt and a book. Simple things that felt strangely meaningful, like reminders that this journey isn’t finished.
My husband picked me up afterward, fresh from his meeting with his angel investor in Kuningan. We drove home, and as soon as we arrived, we had lunch together because he hadn’t eaten yet. Then my eldest daughter offered to dye my graying hair. On the terrace, under the afternoon light, she worked patiently while chatting, and I couldn’t help laughing at how many hundreds of thousands I was saving.
By evening, my husband and I slipped out to eat bakso, just the two of us. Our eldest didn’t join; she suddenly felt unwell and had piles of campus work, so we brought some home for her instead. The bakso from Bakso Kampungqu in BSD was exactly what we needed: cheap, comforting, warm, and proudly without MSG or preservatives.
When I got home again, I was surprised by a Google Photos memory that popped up: an old picture of me and Angeline, my MBTI instructor, taken at Pacific Place. The exact same date. 27 November. Exactly seven years ago. She was such a lovely lady. Gentle, insightful, warm. Unfortunately she has returned to the Lord after bravely fighting cancer. Seeing her face after a day like this felt like a tender reminder from the universe. May she rest in peace.
Meanwhile, the internet was buzzing with the drama of the day. A viral thread about a lost Tumbler Tuku led to a KAI staff member being fired, which then backfired, and eventually the woman who made the thread also got fired by her company. The whole thing felt like a strange, modern fable: your thumb is your tiger. Be careful where it jumps.
I couldn’t help thinking how differently that story could go. I once lost a diamond, after all. My husband didn’t react with anger or drama. When I asked him whether he's mad (coz he's the one who bought it for me), he just shrugged and said, "Why should I? It’s just a thing." 💗
Anyway, it was a full day, yet gentle in its own way. A day where past and present touched hands. A day that reminded me who I was in 2018 and who I am now, standing somewhere between growth, gratitude, and humor.
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