Reflections at 120 kmphs

I was back in my hometown after many years of absence.

It was a strange sense of excitement to come home to the festivities. Oh sure – there were things that I was not looking forward to, like the endless stream of visitors, distant relatives that I have no wish to make acquaintances of, and the lack of familiar things that make up my everyday life. But yeah.. I was still excited nonetheless.

This is a picture of the end of the road that we live on. It’s called Jalan Bijaksana or Wise Street. I would walk this way to head on out to the shopping mall that is round the corner, or on my way to tuition classes, or church. There’s a house at the end of this road – a single storey semi-detached that I used to admire. I don’t anymore.

This is my grandfather’s house. The place I called home right up till I was 17 years old. So many things happened in this house. The rooms still look the same with its built-in wardrobes and our stickers all still there.

We’re a family full of traditions. But I find that traditions are being changed without us being asked. Like the Reunion Dinner which was held at a restaurant instead of being home. But I guess that’s part of growing up. You grow out of things and well, people grow old.

I’m zipping away with my camera this year. Cos looking at the faces of my family, I cannot imagine how many more years we would have without having an empty chair in the midst and talking of someone as if they are still there.

Luke remarked this morning as we were heading out to the market to grab some groceries for our pasta lunch, that our family is getting too big. And I surprised myself by remarking to him that it’s good to have big families. And to remain close with them all.

But as with everything in life, as the old grow older, the young come up as well. I remember a time when my cousins were not even 5 feet tall. And look at us now, with families of our own. I was telling Bear that I wanted to come home so that this picture would be complete for once.

And it is. Cos at the end of the day, our families are all we’ve got. We could have close friends and all… but nothing beats the people you grew up with and called Family. And for that, it was worth the long drive back home for CNY.

Author's Note:

Many thanks goes out to a certain person who in the last year has made me realise the value of the word "family". You have no idea how much of that went into motivating me to go home this year voluntarily!