thoughts – Page 2 – trippingdifferently

March 31, 2024

Spring and New Life…

This year the clocks move forward on the same morning as Easter Sunday – Spring’s arrival brings to mind new life and celebrating Easter also highlights new life.

So I want to share 2 things with you: firstly, a Bible verse:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

Good Friday is a solemn remembrance of Jesus’ death and Easter Sunday is the joyful celebration of Jesus’ resurrection – these 2 events are major pillars of my Christian faith. Jesus took my sins on himself, died on the cross to pay the price for my sins and He rose again on the third day so that I can have a relationship with the Almighty Creator God.
New life in Christ Jesus is why I celebrate Easter.

As you think about new life, here’s the second part: enjoy some beautiful pictures of new life from nature I took this week:

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Blessed Easter!

syc

October 27, 2023

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

June 21, 2023

Final Teen Year…

So this was a month ago, but still relevant… in some ways, it’s good to blog about it today, which is the summer solstice and the last day of Tobias’ final exams.

Yep, a month ago he turned 19 and today he finished the last of his exams for his pre-university education.

It seems like such a long time ago that we were sending him to his first day at kindergarten and yet at the same time, the years have just flashed by. Such a clichè thing to say but nevertheless it’s true.

Are there things I wish I could go back and redo or unsay? Of course. Has it been filled with heartache and tears? Some of it. But it was also filled with joy, laughter and adventures.

In a few months, he is off to serve NS (National Service) in Singapore. A whole new chapter of his life and our journey as his parents, as a family.

I wanted to link to all the previous birthday posts but decided it was too much. So I am going to link to just this one – for his 9th birthday, 10 years ago, where I also mentioned clichè and comtemplated if I would be ready for him to venture out on his own.

I don’t know if I am 100% ready but I know it’s a great next step for him to take out into the big wide world. Are you a parent whose children have flown the nest? How was it? How did you manage the complete change in lifestyle and focus? Care to share?

Here’s a few photos from Tobias’ 19th birthday:

syc