“Singapore, partially cloudy. Well that’s the end of our weather forecast. Now as we move on to ancient civilizations ..." I switched off the television and stood up off the wrapped and ready to go, old couch. There were two days left until we moved house to a new semidetached. I headed back to my room to do some final packing. The room was empty but all that was left was an old pile of books. As I walked towards the near end of the room and noticed a pile of photo albums underneath the piece of cloth I used for wiping up some snow globes and then left it there.
I gingerly used the rag, not wanting to scratch the smooth yet dusty surface of one of the albums with the cloth’s rough texture to wipe the dust off each and every page of the album. Finding it might have been worth looking at; I turned over the delicate cover page. A picture of a slender figure with wrists and ankles with a young boy was on the first page of the album. As I stroked my fingers across the picture, memories of the olden days came flashing through my mind.
I was living with my maternal grandparents since the age of four. My father decided that it would be much more convenient for me to go to my kindergarten given that it was nearer than my own home. Other than that, my parents were afraid that we had come up to mischief during their office hours.
Although I do find it unfair that my sister could get the luxury of getting to stay at my uncle’s house just because her educational center was nearer to his home. She got to watch television programs the whole day, choose the food she wanted to have for her every meal and purchase whatever she wanted. I had always envied her. I could have never done all those things that she did even if I was going to be primary six. I could never watch my favorite cartoon shows as my grand parents would be watching their own Cantonese dramas and also I could never be picky about my food. If I did, my grandparents would have punished me by locking me in my room and not getting neither dinner nor supper. My grandparents were not very rich as they only get twenty dollars a month from my parents. In addition, they had to raise me up.
Even so, I have nice family members with me. There is my father; he is headstrong but always generous, my grandmother; gentle but always making sure that things were not going out of hands. Then there is my aunt Esther;always smart and diligent and she was also the one who helped aced my split tests.
I did not get to see much of my mother as she was overseas most of the time due to her financial meetings and aboard studies. During those days, I had my own personal hero, my aunt Esther. There were times when she was kind to me, teaching me new things and telling me about the olden days on how she managed meetings very well as she could outwit all her colleagues, friends and even her boss. I found she was a good role model for me. She even set challenges for me and taught me arithmetic. That was how I passed the arithmetic split test that my teacher gave me. Not to forget, she got me to study intensively and revise through my work everyday and taught me how to be discipline.
I also remember the time when she was so shaken by my maternal grandfather’s death. Despite her sadness, she remained strong. She also consoled my grandmother. Although it was tough for her to see that her father had passed away, she held back her tears as she did not want to affect my grandmother.
After all this years, I will never forget my beloved aunt Esther. This person which I regard as a hero will always be in my heart forever.