“Singapore, partially cloudy. Well that’s the end of our weather report. Now as we move on to sports-"I switched of the television and stood up off the wrapped and ready to go, old couch. There was two days left until we moved house to a new garden-theme condominium; Amaranda Gardens. I headed back to my room to do some final packing. The room was empty with silence," Hello...Lo...lo'' I actually found it fun playing with the echoes. As I walked towards the near end of the room and noticed a pile of photo albums underneath the piece of rag I used for cleaning the area and then left it lying there.
I gingerly used the rag, not wanting to scratch the smooth surface of the album with the rag’s rough surface. Finding it might have been worth looking at; I turned over the cover page. A picture of a slender figure with delicate wrists and ankles with a young boy was on the first page of the album. As I moved my fingers across the picture, memories of the past came flashing across my mind…
Ever since I was five, I was living with my paternal grandparents. My father decided that it would be much more convenient for me to go to my kindergarten school given that it was nearer than my own home in Woodlands. What’s more, my parents are afraid we’d come up to mischief when they have their busy schedule on.
Though I do find it unjust that my sister could get the luxury of getting to stay at my maternal grandfather’s house just because her school was nearer to their home. She got to watch television the whole day, choose the food she wanted to have for her daily meals and buy whatever she wanted. I was always envious of her. I could never have done that. I could never watch my favourite television shows as my paternal grand parents would be watching their own hokkien dramas also I could never be picky about my food as they wanted to teach me self discipline. In addition, they weren’t very rich.
Even so, I have nice family members with me. There is my grandfather; he’s headstrong but generous, my grandmother; gentle but always taking things into her own hands. Then there’s my two aunts; Joyce the older one, and Chrissy the younger one. Both smart and diligent.
I did not get to see much of my aunt Chrissy as she overseas most of the time due to her university studies. During those days I had my own personal hero, my aunt Joyce. There were countless times when she was lenient with me, kind to me, teaching me new things everyday and even sharing her personal accounts with me on how she can outwit her colleagues and even her clients and her boss. I found she was a good role model for me. She was even the one who introduced to me Christ. That was how I got to know Christ and became a Christian. Not to forget, she helped me ace all my primary 1 and 2 examinations. She got me to study intensively and revise through my work everyday after finishing my homework by teaching me how to be discipline.
I also remember the times when she was so shaken by my grandfather’s death. Come to think of it, I remember the times when I took for granted of him and the incident where I was so angry with my grandfather that I took the meat pounder and hit it against his head; how could I have been so cruel.
After all the years I will never forget my aunt Joyce and my grandfather. Forever in my heart. ( 623 words )