The Year That Was

2017 was a year of many memories, some pleasant, others unpleasant.

Among the pleasant events was our move into our permanent home, a decent sized apartment in a standalone tower block.

It has a balcony where I can now grow plants, a hobby that I missed desperately when we sold our landed home and moved into temporary premises that didn’t allow me to indulge in my love for plants, especially house plants. Now my balcony has pots of house plants that give me great joy as I see them transform from tiny plants into beautiful greens of varying sizes and shades.

Meeting up with my class of 1959 buddies a couple of times in the capital city had us going down memory lane and we are so blessed that we still have a dozen of us still able to make these luncheons, albeit, grey, pleasantly rounded or bamboo thin. Our spirits are high and we’re like the school girls we were eons ago, giggling and still arguing the way we used to! Old is truly gold.

Getting together with my siblings for meals and catching up was always a happy occasion as we seldom have the opportunity to have everyone together at the same time. The bah kut teh breakfasts with my younger brother (he’ll be 72 next month!) are de rigeur whenever I happen to be in town. After breakfast, we would walk to the market to buy fruits and last year, he bought me different types of durians, jackfruit and pineapples as well as rambutans. We all share a love of good, tasty food.

The wedding of my nephew to his sweetheart was the highlight of the year. I saw relatives whom I had not seen for years and it was great that we could catch up while enjoying the delicious dishes of the wedding banquet. 

My sisters and I also met up with our former sister-in-law who took us to Jenjarom to see the beautiful temple gardens that were beautifully decorated with plants and lights as well as colorful sculptures of the Rooster.

However, the unpleasant memories are those associated with pain and the pain came in different degrees. First was my fractured toe. My foot hit the door jamb as I was rushing out from my bedroom. It was two months before it healed and I had to stay home most of the time.

Then came the most excruciating pain of all. When I got up from my desk, a sudden spasm of pain shot right through from my waist to my left foot. I couldn’t place my foot on the floor and I couldn’t walk. The slightest movement had me shrieking in pain.

I was hospitalized for the pain and heavy doses of different painkillers enabled me to settle for the night semi-reclining as I couldn’t lie down flat.  

   

Xrays and an MRI revealed that the last disc in my spine had been compressed and a sudden movement had triggered the pain.  Fortunately, the specialists concurred that there was no need for surgery (Praise the Lord) but I have to be very careful when I move. No sudden movements but to take it slow and easy.

Perhaps the most painful of all was the moment that someone whom I had considered to be a very good friend, simply disappeared without any explanation although arrangements had been made to meet up for lunch and also to visit the Land Below The Wind, taking the same flight. There had been no explanations for both no shows and I felt very hurt and let down. I always value my friends and will never let them down in such a manner. I subscribe to the belief that a man's word is his honor and breaking his word shows him in bad light, especially when no reason is given.

2018 will be a better year, I hope and I look forward to the incoming Chinese Lunar New Year, which will be the Year of The Dog, Man’s best friend.

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Autumn Days

This year has flown by exceptionally fast. I wonder how many felt this is so.

Whatsapp messages often contain messages to make the best of each day as it comes, as we don’t know what lies in store for us. Will we even see the light of the next day?

One of my closest classmates and friend has just lost her spouse with whom she has shared many decades of life. When he could no longer drive a car, I was told that both of them would either catch the train or bus just to go to the next town for lunch. When I heard that, I thought how wonderful it was to have such a loving relationship.

Now she is alone. This will be a very difficult time for her, having to adjust to a single life amidst the emotional loss and grief.

Life is a cycle. We start off single, meet our partner and become a couple, raise a family and when they go off to make their own way in life, we become a couple once more until one of us leaves this world and we are single once more.

It would seem that women outlive the men, going by what I see. Many of my friends are widows. Perhaps men are genetically programmed to live shorter lives than women. However, in my family this isn’t true. The women in my family pre-decease the men. My mum, both my grandmas and two of my sisters departed long ago.

My contemporaries and I are now in our autumn years, enjoying whatever life span is left. We try to meet up as often as we can, fully aware that our days are numbered. I’m blessed to have friends in both parts of the country and we meet over lunches. Another of my classmates will be flying in next month to escape the cold winter of the UK and our core group shall meet again at her favorite restaurant in the capital city.

Meanwhile, I enjoy my days, tending to the little plants now growing on my balcony,

two rounds of golf per week,

reading and writing apart from a bit of cooking. Every now and then I take a flight to visit my grandchildren.

Life is good in the Autumn.

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Quo vadis?

There is far too much violence in the world today. Each day we read in the news of massacres, murders committed during robberies, random shootings into crowds, deliberate mowing down of pedestrians and bullying perpetrated by students, which more often than not, ended in the death of the victims.

Two recent cases of fatal bullying within one month, led to an outpouring of grief and anger. The bullies have been arrested and are now facing murder charges which carry the mandatory death penalty. These bullies are teenagers and also in the twenty something age group.

Why is there so much anger and venomous hatred? The two victims were their schoolmates/university mates and were known to be non-aggressive and well-liked by their friends.

Why did the bullies pick on the vulnerable to beat and torture them to the extent that it could only lead to death? It has been opined that herd mentality drives the bullies to be more vicious and to revel in their power over the hapless victim.  It could be the sadistic and cruel streak that surfaces when they see their victim writhing in agony. 

Brutality seems to be the order of the day. Road rage, abusive adults who abuse their young charges mercilessly and beat them to death. Whatever is the world coming to? 

Have we come to the End Days? Where are we going? Will we be like the lemmings?

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