Living out Faith

 Five months on, there are good days and there are bad. There are days that I look through my messages with dad and wonder why didn't I wished him Happy Father's Day last year. And I look through and wished that there were more messages that I could've sent him. Maybe videos of Baba in swim competitions, maybe videos of BaWa skiing and maybe random videos.  Chinese New Year came and went. We met Joanne, her family and mum at Seoul for a couple of days and we flew to Singapore first. They flew back two days later. We had fun, especially the kids. It was cute seeing the kids play and interact with each other. Baba and Jojo had some time to roam around by themselves. Baba brought his cousins and mum out for breakfast too. At the back of my head, dad would have enjoyed this trip. The moment we touched down Singapore, I felt slightly depressed, wishing that dad would be there to pick us up from the airport. But well, such is life. Chinese New Year was hard. I've got a friend...

  We've heard it a million times that life is not fair. There are days that I see some old people and I think to myself, life is not fair. Why do some people have more time with their parents or grandparents and some have less? My maternal granddad died when I was ten years old and my paternal granddad when I was eighteen. My paternal grandma died when I was in my mid forties and my maternal when I was in my late forties. I was glad that I had extra time with my grandmas but I really wished I had more time with my maternal granddad too. Got me thinking of life.....my mum lost her dad when she was  probably in her late twenties and my dad in, his late thirties. To a large extent, it must be hard on them too. When I look at myself, I got dad till I was fifty, isn't that enough? Why is it unfair then? I wish so much every day that dad's grandkids got to know him a little better. How resilient a man he was. How much he taught us to be strong, independent and when the world sa...

 As a child, I've always loved Christmas. Growing up, my parents used to throw these massive Christmas parties and the extended family and friends would all be invited. Dad would busy himself in the kitchen cooking up a storm and by lunchtime, people would arrive and gather around the table. I've always loved those parties. It was a time to catch up with my cousins while the uncles and aunties chat. From our old flat at Pandas Gardens, we continued that tradition when we moved to Woodlands. When I went to Australia to study, one of the highlights of heading home for summer was yes, Christmas party. Even when I got married, yes, the Christmas party. Then we moved to Hong Kong in 2006, twenty years ago and things changed a little. Initially we headed home very often for both Christmas and Chinese New Year but that meant that we had less options to travel. When BaWa were younger we did both festivals at Singapore but over time, we decided to stop going home for Christmas primaril...