my ambivalent attitude

Monday, January 30, 2006

I was chatting with Tze Shuen through MSN on Chu Xi when he popped the question: Are u having your reunion dinner? My reply then was no because traditionally, my paternal side of my family will gather at my humble abode on the second day of CNY for a more sumptuous steamboat dinner. Perhaps the reason being my father had 3 elder sisters and Chu 2 is supposedly a day for wives and their families to 回娘家. (My dearest grandmother lives together with me:P) Oh, then my mother must have been so noble or rather understanding to stay at home on this special day every year to make preparations for the food. Anyway, this unique day has been something I looked forward to every year since childhood. Sadly to say, this feeling of exhilaration has adulterated as the year passes.

A wave of nostalgia still overwhelmed me as I recalled the times when my cousins, siblings and I would gamble to our hearts' content all through the afternoon when we were younger. However these memories have been getting faint. My aunts have been coming back later every year and the time they stayed has been getting shorter. All my cousins have grown up and we seldom have common topics to even start a conversation, let alone playing games together. (What games can we play? Really!) But I really treasured this day, even though there were not much communication between my cousins and me. Listening to the din that my 3 aunts could make during this once-in-a-year gathering - whinging about their unhappiness at work and commenting on all the little things that happen to them, was therepeutic for me. Not to mention the laughters felt when they start doing hilarious acts like going down to the Giant beside my house to "do a market survey". (2 of my aunts work in Shop & Save) Haha.

scribbled at 7:15 PM