First day of Chinese New Year

First day of Chinese New Year! What a great feeling! Another new year of challenges ahead! Resolution? Gosh! My yearly resolution of losing weight for the past 40 years! Ahem! I always tell people that I am nicely rounded not because of excess intake of food, but excess intake of air.... all that laughter that has caused me to be somewhat bloated! Excuse! Excuse!:)

Am really serious when I say that I laugh a lot. You can't help laughing when you have four older siblings who are great jokers. The most prominent one is my sister, Ean Ean. She is a born comedienne. I suspect if she had lived in Singapore, she might have clinched the Singapore Idol Award. She sings and plays the piano, drum, guitar, ukelele and violin very well too. Best of all is her gift of mimicking others. Once she phoned me from Melbourne and I told her that my cousin had brought a packet of "Jenny Wu" durians from Penang for me. It was specially packed by the plantation owner, Uncle Lim, who doted on me and insisted that my cousin must bring his prized and specially cultivated durians all the way from Penang for me. "Sis, the durians in Melbourne are so ooo ooooo expensive. One seed cost AUS$2.00! It pained me to spend so much money that I left the durian in my throat for a few minutes!" lamented my Sister Ean Ean.
I laughed so hard, and later pleaded with my sis not to make me laugh on the phone, because laughing during an international call could be pretty costly!

I guess we inherit papa's gift of story telling and making others laugh. Being the youngest, I am also the quietest and when I am with my older siblings I do not talk much as I would prefer to listen to them. However, when I am on my own with friends, the "Kam Family trademark" would surface! I would be the clown and life wire of the party. Aveline invited me and two of my friends to her home for a steamboat reunion last night. After the lovely dinner, I started telling them jokes and sang some popular songs in various languages. I also showed her relatives how to do the rock & roll and chacha. Aveline's 94 year old mother-in-law who is partially bed ridden also soon started to laugh and join in the fun. The family was just delighted to see their elderly relative laughing so much.

As Aveline was driving us to the Yew Tee MRT station to catch our train, she told me that her mother-in-law loves company. When she was younger she was always the doting grandma who would cook herbal soup and lovely dessert for everyone. Now that she is so frail and sickly, many of her grandchildren do not even bother to visit her! In the semi darkness of the car, I was fighting my tears, as I thought of the grandparents I had never seen. Both my paternal and maternal grandparents had passed away even before I was born. I used to envy my classmates for having grandparents who came to fetch them from school. I also greeted them cheerfully during Chinese New Year and received hong baos. Despite not having a grandparent, I felt as if I had so many grandparents! This is probably why I always have a soft spot for elderly people. I always envy my friends who still have parents living with them. Many people are often surprised that I am so cheerful despite living on my own in Singapore. Happiness is all in the mind.... I have learnt to be made happy by simple things ... cooler weather, finding some wild squirrels on the tree, meeting owners walking their lovely dogs, enjoying a simple meal with friends, etc.

May this lunar new year be a great year for everyone!