Day 6

Covid Day 6, our elderly neighbours gifted us with homecooked food again, Aunty L has been cooking for us almost every other day since she heard we caught Covid. I spotted Uncle Y, her husband, up the ladder in his garden, reaching towards his banana trees and sighed. Lo and behold, the kids came running into the house in delight with a bunch of bananas that ‘Gung Gung’ dropped over the fence. ‘ Bananas!’ Saitaomei shouted in glee ‘my favourite !!’ No doubt Uncle Y knows it’s her favourite too. Sigh, we are blessed with such kind and generous neighbours, how lucky are we.

The girls are getting so good at drawing and colouring! They had a lovely day drawing, colouring and playing art gallery.

They were happy to show me where ah pa keeps his brooms and which broom he uses for sweeping up the porch. They helped to sweep as well and later proudly showed their Gung Gung their handiwork ‘are you proud of us?’ Saitaomei asked my Ah Pa, this little one is always fishing for compliments.

Housework makes you hot and sweaty so it was time for an icecream break.

They love ah pa’s garden and play so much outdoors. This is their childhood and they will remember this garden for years to come.

Covid ? What Covid ?

Showing me the fruits of Ah pa’s labour, they really are my father’s little helpers and know all their fruit trees!

Gung Gung teasing Saitaomei. Saitaomei laughing at Gung Gung’s jokes. Best friends for life.

A difficult week. Covid. Lots of sad news. Deaths and illnesses. But also a bittersweet week. The sweetness of being with my nearest and dearest and the ones I love the most. We’re still here and we still have each other.

Sanctuary

I always think of our Kuching family home as my sanctuary, a place where I feel at peace, comfortable, safe and secure. I also felt that same sense of security and comfort at Ah ma’s lovely TP flat in Singapore.

Five days in since the girls and I moved into my parents’ house, even with horrible Covid and a dense fog settling across my senses, I could hear and sense my parents talking, playing with their grandchildren, hovering, always caring in the background, even in the helpless state of sickness and despair, I felt I was safe because we were together.

I’ve just come to realise that it wasn’t the Kuching home, or the TP flat that was my sanctuary, my parents are my sanctuary. and watching my daughters utterly enjoying their ‘staycation’ and basking in the utter joy of having their favourite grandparents AND mummy as a bonus under one roof, I know they see their grandparents as their sanctuary too.

If only I could give my parents the same sense of security, comfort and love that they give me and my children. That is really something worthwhile to strive towards.