So Quiet it's Disturbing

Hi,

It's that time of year again...yeah.....holiday time, the end of the year when school is out and parents take annual leave and whole families flood the airports in a great exodus to their various meccas.

My daughter and her two children have flown off for their holidays and my spouse and I are alone at home.

Somehow it feels so different; a home without the young children is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop. It's almost disturbing so I've acquired the habit of putting the radio on, once I come downstairs. At least the voices of the DJs chirping away and the music they play cut the silence.

So there are less clothes to wash, there's no necessity to cook ( to cook for two is just too much of a hassle, especially Chinese cooking )and apart from gardening and watering the plants and housekeeping on the computer,there's little else to do.

My tv soapbox comes on only at 9:30pm so before that I try to learn a few things on the computer by going through the videos that I've downloaded ( at a cost, of course ). This is when time flies and I wish I have 3 heads (!!!) to cope with the amount of knowledge that I want to absorb. I know some people think I'm crazy...

My daughter's family are now on holiday on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Their holiday was a bit delayed because my grandson had an extra two weeks' school although the school had already closed officially. All the Chinese primary schools here insist that year 5 children going to year 6 in Jan 2010 remain in school for an extra two weeks to prepare them for the following year when they will have to sit for their UPSR examination ( a national examination ). Schools these days are very competitive. 0.01% difference in a mark could mean a ranking way down the ladder.
The year 1 pupils (ie year 1 in 2010) also had to come in for a 2-week orientation.

So you could see all the anxious guardians and parents milling around the school grounds and carpark waiting for the school bell to ring. Then it's hell let loose when the cars try to leave as quickly as possible, having picked up their little charges.

I thought those days were long over when my children were grown up but the cycle is repeating as my grandchildren live with me. We are truly blessed with their company at this stage of our lives and we get the joy of seeing them grow, right before our eyes, their ups, their downs, their development as they grow older.

Yes, we are missing them but the little ones are on Facebook, thank goodness, so communication is there. Facebook makes a difference to people's lives, I daresay. You can contact friends and family and catch up with the latest on their happenings.

The Christmas tree is up, the children having put it up before they left, so when they return, albeit after Christmas, their presents will be all there, piled under the tree.

The whirring of the fans, the 80's music on the radio (Lite FM ), the sound of the wind from the sea, the occasional boom of a plane landing, my spouse at the children's computer across the room, my fingers tapping away at my computer keys....these are the facts of life right now.

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