Tag: family

about family & related issues

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Big Trip to Singapore, Nov/Dec 2023

Yep, it’s 2024! Perfect time to look back on the last 2 months of 2023. LOL!

We did, what I consider, to be a BIG trip to Singapore.

Big in more ways than one; big in length of time (at least for me, it was 7 weeks). I think the last time we were there for that length of time was when my son was born. And what a lovely bookend this is because on this trip we usher my son into a rite of passage for any Singaporean male; into National Service (NS). Big also because I had so much I wanted to get done. I think I managed just enough for now. More to do next time… lol.

So what did I get done?

There was a wonderful primary school class reunion, lots of drawers and cupboards to clear out in the living room, loads of items to sort through, furniture to get rid of, new furniture to build and then fill with the items which we decided to keep. My brother also had emergency gall-bladder removal operation just before I arrived so there’s trying to make sure he recovered well.

Of course, there were visits to our family and friends, with lots of yummy meals to digest as well. It’s with a little bit of sadness that I realised lots of my relatives are really getting on in years. While many of them are still in fairly good health, the health issues that are there is affecting their daily lives slightly. Yet I have hope as I also see that they do have good family support and also the health care in Singapore is quite good.

Here are some pictures (quite a lot are of food, which tells you how much we ate… lol):

In Flight
Istanbul Airport
First Meal in SG
Little Treasure Found
Peranakan Meal with blue rice
New shelving in progress
The Boy and the Cousin’s Dog
Cockerel and Hen in my friend’s garden
Something new – EnChanko
Remembering my Daddy on his birthday
Never too much Japanese food
Anime Fest Asia
Financial District Singapore
Finally met this beauty
New Haircut
Grilled Wagyu Beef – Wa-En
Beauty-in-the-Pot
Korean BBQ
Traditional Breakfast
Maxwell Hawker Center
Sunset over HDB flats
Yummy Meal before leaving Singapore – peanut butter filled thick toast with honey and butter

This new chapter of our lives has began and we are all adjusting; my husband and I to being empty nesters, my son to life in Singapore with his grandma and uncle and my family to having a young adult in the house again. I sincerely ask God to help us so that we might find this a fulfilling and blessed time for all of us.

syc

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Happy Christmas Everyone!

This is the first Christmas we spend with just the 2 of us because our son is now living with my mum, waiting to serve in the military (NS for Singaporeans). It will be a quiet one because we just got back from Singapore. More on our trip to Singapore later. For now, we send our Christmas greetings to you all.

SYC

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Ready for the Next Chapter? I think so…

See the picture above? Those are my son’s things he has decided will be going with him to Singapore, where he has chosen to serve his NS (National Service). See my post from July regarding his graduation and NS.

It’s a milestone and quite a big one. Many have been asking how we, as parents, feel about him leaving the nest.

Well, there’s a part of me who can not believe he’s already at this stage of his life, there’s another part of me who is very proud that he has come this far, yet another part of me is uncertain. Uncertain of how I would navigate this change, manage the physical distance and balance mothering while giving him the space to fully become the young adult he needs to be.

I turn to others who have already walked this path and to God who is my constant guide through life.

Another question friends ask us is what we would do now, as empty-nesters. A friend related how his parents told him they had to relearn how to just be a married couple again. I guess that might be one part of it.

It will be an adjustment but it will also be an opportunity for us to move into different roles. By this I mean, we will always be his parents but our role will shift gears into being advisers rather than direct influencers. I feel it would probably be the same in our relationship as a married couple; we would move from being parents first to giving priority to being a partner for each other.

I am sad yet excited, proud yet ambivalent, wanting to reach for the future while still holding onto memories.

For now, I tell myself to remain cool and calm and tell you, with my heart at busting point, my boy passed his driving test and can now legally drive! Another milestone – what else can a parent be but proud 😀

This picture just shows the sample license as I didn’t want to show his actual license for privacy reasons.

syc