A quick look at the date indicated on the computer confirms it, it's been a month since I flew out of Los Angeles. It - the city - feels very very far away.
A cool breeze is coming through the kitchen window, the season's changing into Fall, although it could also just be the two storm systems that's threatening the coast of Taiwan that's causing the temperature to drop overnight. Nontheless it's a welcomed change to the constant humidity and heat that may not have dampened my spirits, but definitely my clothes. I will NOT miss the parts of this trip that found me sweating uncomfortably in inappropriate places...
To start, Singapore was a revelation.
At the heart of my trip, or the deciding factor that brought me to Singapore, was the celebration of my grandfather turning 98. It's difficult to describe what it's like to have a grandfather who is 98, or a grandma who is turning 94 but whose health is failing. They've lived in the same house for the past 40 plus years, the same furnishings still adorn the same floors, the orange carpet remains orange, although infinitely lighter in shade, not that the occupants of the house would even remember what shade it had been...
The pace of the house has not changed since I visited as a little girl, it's as if in this house, time slows down. This house IS the heart of the Chee Clan. Grandfather or Gong-Gong as we call him, had his birthday feted by his children, grand-grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Four generations under one roof, eating the same foods we've always enjoyed, conversing in the manner in which we always have, and sitting on the same stairs that seated us as children. The new generation scampered about the dining room unaware... it will be years before they realize how blessed they were to have been a part of such a celebration, to be able to be in the house, in the company of family, to have that moment in time.
... to be continued.
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