A time to reflect

The year is coming to an end and its always the time for us to reflect.We have a lot to be grateful for..the children with their spouses are doing well.Kyra and Aaron are growing up to be intelligent and lively kids. When we look at the members of the family who fall sick we realize how lucky we are to be in good health>My sister has been bed ridden for so long and its painful to see her wasting away and deteriorating by the day.Mum's brother in law is diagnosed with stomach cancer and the outcome is yet unknown.I saw him in Spore and was shocked and upset to see the change in him from the last time I saw him.Sickness is indeed a curse affecting not only the patient but also the family members.I can imagine how they must feel seeing a loved one suffer and being unable to do anything about it. We had a scare when our son in law Alvyn had a growth in his kidney which required surgery.None of us said anything but deep down was the fear that it could be malignant.Thank God it was not and today he is well and about. Our family has been strengthened by all this and mum plays a great role bringing the family together.She would happily cook her best dishes when she knows that Sze and Andrew are coming for dinner .She has always believed that eating together makes the family bond so much stronger.She always believed "Give the children something nice to eat, simple as it may be and they will happily come back".This reminds me of Auntie Tai whom I stayed with in my Varsity days.She had 8 sons and every Sunday they will come to the house and Auntie would cook fantastic lunches which her sons loved.It was a great family get together every Sunday.They would play mahjong, chat and eat and the grandchildren would be running all over.Auntie told me its the one day in the week which she really looked forward to and today I can understand why.Though the kids are grown up we are always happy to have them around.As long as the children continue to want to see us its good enough for mum and me. What is in store for 2012? The exciting part will be our youngest daughter's baby who is due in April .A new life will come into being and another addition to the family.With the coming of bay the cycle is almost complete.We hope to see our third daughter formalize her wedding and then they can get on with their lives.Of course we would wish to have all our children here but life's realities determines that this is not to be so.The children have their own lives to lead and live and at the end of the day what really matters is that they are happy. It looks that we will be in KL for yet another year and actually we have become used to life in Kl though deep down there is a yearning to be back in Ipoh but these are life's little sacrifices which all parents have to make.Besides realistically we are sure the children prefer us around KL as they can easily keep an eye on us here which I reckon is fair enough. Goodbye 2011 ,you have been good to us and welcome 2012 .