Life as it is!

A strange feeling and unfamiliar setting make me wonder whether this is the same world which we used to live many years ago. When we look around us, things suddenly appear to be different as though it all happened just in the blinks of your eyes. We once used to wonder how your future spouse and children are going to look like, will they ever be pretty and charming, or your off-springs would behave and inherit some traces of similarities of yours? Abruptly the time came that we had the added family of in-laws and  life started to center around our own family of spouse and young kids! They are the ones with these distinct real faces appear right before you to accompany us for the rest of your life. Changes did not stop here, very soon they outgrew their shoes, shirts and toys, and they reached the age of adolescence with their own friends and making own decision and choices despite you telling them otherwise. We woke up in one of the mornings and found ourselves well qualified for the partial withdrawal of our EPF fund, which marks the great number of years that we had been through!

We looked forward to attend birthday and wedding parties that always filled with joy and happiness. The time had come that we had to visit the bed-ridden beloved ones in hospitals, and bidden them final goodbye in funeral services. Long lost friends, classmates and contemporaries occasionally called to meet up and you took note and captured glimpses of their aged bodies, wrinkled faces, and traces of grey hairs. That prompted you to take a quick look at your own face in the mirror on how those years of toil had eroded your youthful look!

We  felt the sadness and loss in years when the elderly of our family and those from the side of the in-laws disappeared one after another, you are slowly moving up the rank of seniority. The only consolation could be you finally get to enjoy the golden age discounted travel tickets on buses, railways or airplanes! You over joy every time upon the renewal of your employment contract which proves not just your earning capability but also you are still wanted!

We became sentimental of the past and nostalgic of the good old days where things were done differently. An old song would always make you remember the exact moment and time of what you were doing then. We become interested and yearn to involve in those hobbies or interests which we could not fulfill for whatever reasons during those younger days.

Suddenly you feel the strong urge to defy this age gaining process and wanted to prove that you are as fit as before. Climbing all the high mountains, visiting places and taking part in activities and races that demand physical strength and superiority.

The recent passing away of the eldest aunty of my wife and also the Singapore minister mentor Mr. Lee Kuan Yew's beloved wife Kwa Geok Choo seems to be just another ordinary day-to-day incident. But somehow it has reminded me time is so short and life is so good, we must always appreciate the time we spend with our love ones while the sun still shines on us everyday!