I was stuck in the traffic jam after school drop, which is not surprising during even date. Not quite real traffic, just long and long traffic light. Three times red light within few meters.
My mind wandered to the past and couldn’t help going through the memory lane when school drop and pick up looked like this.
Once upon a time, a route to go to school was through the wood with the sound of bird chirping along the way.Sunset view waiting for the school pick up during winter
Stuck in the traffic shouldn’t be a happy situation, but, the control is always on our hand. Looking back to these pictures, instead of sad, I felt happy. And grateful. Instead of wishing the situation now would be like those pictures, I am grateful I had it once. I was truly living all the idea that once only happened inside my head. I found comfort in Dr Seuss words , “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened”.
I actually don’t have any complaints stuck in the traffic jam after school drop. This is one thing I surely miss later in the future. So, I’ll enjoy all the red light while it lasts.
I’ve always drawn about everything related to French. Many reasons have been written here in the past.
Raised by a french teacher gave significant impact to me more than any of my siblings. From the parenting, way of life, and many little things that my late mother did really goes along the way and it influences about the way I raise my little girl now, consciously and unconsciously.
From being adventerous about eating, being strict about sleeping, being details about footwear, the love for pastries and cake, make her wait for everything, that’s why I said before how amazed I was when I read the famous Bringing Up Bébe for the first time. Knowing everything that I have done, those things are done by a whole country, which I thought previously it was only and solely from my mother.
Recently, I just finished a book about a woman who wrote a story how her student exchange experiences in Paris gave meaningful and profound lessons to her and just like me, it gave enormous insight and influence to how she lives her life and raise her kids too. She learned so much from the family she lived with and wrote three books about it. How many pages that I felt like doing high five with her.
I found few pages that really hit home, like these :
From “20 lessons from Madame Chic”.This is exactly what I have been doing from last year. Enjoying the city where I live by foot
There are lots of things that make French parenting and way of life make sense, for me. No matter how much I read about it, I could read another and still find new perspectives from the same method. I am totally blessed to be raised such method although I live thousands miles away from the country.
It might relate to this (or not), but, at the beginning of this week, me and the doctor talked about one of my close relatives.
This aunt of mine has been a ‘fan’ of my mother’s parenting for a very long time. When we look from one side, it seems that she looked up to my mother when it comes to raising children, but on the other side, she was actually someone who tried to beat whatever my mother did with a better result, which was not bad actually.
I was once her benchmark for things like school. His only son went to the same junior high school, to the same music school. She is the real example of true tiger mom. An authorarian and helicopter type at the same time. Study is number one and anything that could disrupt it should be eliminated.
Knowing how ambitious she was, her son obviously did very much better than me and my siblings did. But, it wasn’t surprising at all since she made him worked ten times harder than us. Day and night, weekdays or weekend. No wonder his achievements were all over the places. Always top of the class, yearly rank concert, student exchange to US, volunteering in Middle East, and many other flashy achievements that no one in the family could achieve.
Meanwhile, none of my mother’s kids achieve such things. We were (and are) just ordinary kids that sat on the top ten without too much pressure. Enough time to play and biking around. Didn’t join any other extracurricular activities other than piano lesson (three of us). My mother concerned more if we couldn’t function well at home on our own more than doing well at school. When my cousin was busy doing his lessons, we were busy with lots of chores at home. My aunt was very proud of her son’s achievements and said it loudly. But, what could be bragged from children that are capable of doing chores?😂
Fast forward few years, her son studied at the university and became the doctor’s junior at Faculty of Medecine. I happened to be married to the doctor and I didn’t know when it started, a new benchmark formed. This time is not only me but also my whole family.
From one of the doctor’s colleagues who happens to have quite close relationships to my aunt (they are neighbors), my aunt has been really obsessed about everything that my family do. The way I raise the little girl, how much the doctor’s made, which hospitals he works at, which area we bought our house is, she is pretty curious about us and little things that we do or have.
I felt there were few starting line when this behavior grew. First, when the doctor became a staff consultant of national hospitals in his department after he finished his residency. Second, when we ‘suddenly’ moved to London and he didn’t go for study, but for working. Those two were something that her son couldn’t (or hasn’t) achieve(d) (yet).
It doesn’t stop with the doctor. She also started comparing her granddaughter to the little girl. What kind of lessons she took, what kind of achievements she got, etc.
She sounds so dissatisfied and disappointed because his son couldn’t achieve things like above or some other things in his personal life. The pressure is really hard on my cousin and I felt sorry for him because her mother really projects all her disappointment on him. She told the doctor’s colleague of how his son couldn’t act like a real adult in daily life, couldn’t handle his personal and little important things well, but maybe most of all, he couldn’t meet the benchmark she set based on other’s achievement. It indeed doesn’t feel comfortable when we put other’s shoes on our own feet. It’s hard to be happy too that way.
From my perspective, my cousin is doing okay. He’s fully capable and functional adult, but maybe, he might need a bit of help to get out of his mother pressure and expectations. He might need more space to be free from his mother (and all the helps she gives, until now).
I won’t discuss further but this feels like a wake up call for me. To reflect back everything that I do to the little girl. I am far from tiger, but, I sense there are some characteristics of my aunt that I see in myself. It’s not surprising too actually, knowing that both my aunt and my father shared the same father.
My late grandpa from my father side was a disciplined man and he really thought highly about academic and career achievements. He was once a Bank Indonesia employee and expected his kids to follow his directions. He measured his children (and their spouses) mostly from those things. It’s totally understandable that all my father’s siblings are doing well in that area. Of course, there are buts too. So, what my aunt did was actually just the extension of what she got from her parents.
This shows me that parenting is like an infinite game which the finish line couldn’t be seen in the short term and its influence doesn’t stop in one generation. It will keep going to the next generation and it takes conscious effort to fix what should be fixed. It doesn’t matter how well the child is doing at the start, but it matters more how they would be doing as an adult. Preparing the child to be an adult is the parents biggest homeworks, which often being forgotten by most of us.
Looking at this case, I feel like to remind myself as a mother of the little girl that she’s more than anything that could be measured. She’s not defined by anything that she achieves or doesn’t achieve. My job here is to raise her well within my and our best abilities and it’s never up to me and us how she will end up later in life.
Back to the book I read above, another page explains well what I want for my daughter :
I hope whatever she does later in life, she will be fulfilled, resilient and be passionate about that. I really hope she would find that one thing which could spark joy and happiness in doing that. Even without any titles attached to her name, even when she’s doing a simple thing as walking daily for groceries.
I hope later I forgive myself for everything that I have and haven’t done in raising the little girl and leave the rest to whatever things life assigned to her and find peace with that. I hope no single tiny resentment about everything she would become of. Amin.
Parked my car in little girl’s school while enjoying the morning sunshine from the car and listening to Friday’s storytelling sessions from the students. It’s getting hot here and I think it’s time to go home.
First, lots of writing ideas that have been unavailable for the last few months. Been staring at the blank page often since few last months of last year and nothing came up. Traveling for a week, drafts line up in an instant.
Second, the cleanest period at home. I have this urge to clean everything whenever we want to travel. Not only as far as Sydney, even one as close as Bogor or Bandung makes me want to clean everything before we go. The further we go, more massive the cleaning done.
On the day we departed to Sydney, I ran the washing machine twice, changed all the bed sheets and cushions, cleaning the table, and many more. In my opinion, when we travel, preparing for the trip is not the only thing we should do, but another more important thing is preparing the post travel mood.
Since we have no one to help us with domestic chores, I will be the one who will do and deal with all the post travel mess. Thus, coming home to a clean and tidy house is important to me.
Is that all? Sadly, no. I am the one who also unpacks all the luggages right away, not that kind of the following day right away, but literally right away after we set the foot at home. I couldn’t sit still until all the suitcases are safely stored in the cupboard, clear living room without scattered things, all souvenirs properly packed, washing machine start doing its job, then I could stop.
This is why the arrival time is also being highly considered when I purchase the ticket. But, based on past experiences, no matter how late or early, I always unpack right away. Arrived home from Tokyo at 2am, unpacked done until 5 am. Arrived home from Paris at 11pm, unpacked until 2am. Arrived home at 9.30 pm yesterday, all clear by 12.30 am.
They say people who unpack the luggage right away after traveling is a cold blood murderer.
Maybe 🤔.
Third, traveling reveals the worst in you. It reveals not only how annoying your partner to you, but also how annoying you are to them. There are times when I have been so annoyed by either the doctor or the little girl and I am sure I have been such a nuisance to them for many times. When everyone directly goes lazing on the bed or couch after spending hours outside, my choice is always tidying up here and there and sometimes I expect them to do as I do.
Je sais c’est impossible.
The situation of the room every morning before we left for sightseeing. The golden rule : “You won’t be happy coming home to a messy place”
Last one, traveling brings some stories that are not available in any books out there. The old man while waiting the check in time, the lady in Rudolf Steiner book store, the taxi driver who sent us to the airport, all told stories that I could never find in any book stores. With the old man and the taxi driver, it was the doctor who talked to them while I listened while the lady it was between me and her. I actually like the listening part more than the talking. I found it more interesting (easier) when I listened to other’s’ conversations more than when I was the one who had to do the talk. Lazy girl.
Did I say last above? Well, another one then.
After one trip ends, traveling brings the ‘greed’ to do it another one soon.
The greed that made the four seasons of Ilana Tan trips happen within four years in a row.
Traveling is impossible without itinerary but, I think it’s impossible to follow all the itineraries planned before. In 7 days here, only follow the exact plan for the first two days. We decided the rest along the way, especially every morning.
Our itineraries might be not suitable for everyone because it feels like doing nothing. Walking, sitting, playing, lazying around, even nap time is compulsory during traveling. But, we just enjoy what we like and this is the rest time where we’re granted a lot of time to enjoy all those experiences in a new place.
Life rarely goes according to the plan and I think that what makes it interesting. Here’s what we do in 7 days :
1. Arrived at 6.10 and put the luggages at the hotel and we walked around while waiting the check in time.
We stopped by at Haven for the doctor’s coffee. Followed by playing and rest in the playground near darling harbor where we spent 2 hours there.
We continued the walk to the It’s Time for Thai for lunch then went to Woolsworth for light groceries. We were so exhauste already and after that we just sat still in the hotel lobby until our room was ready.
Day 1 morning : walking around with heavy bag on the back
In the afternoon, we strolled down the Sydney harbor and Opera house then enjoyed the whole afternoon warching people in Royal Botanic Garden with Opera House view.
Day 1
2. We decided to return to the same spot but this time to ride on the ferry to visit the oldest theme park in Sydney. Luna Park is not as big as Dufan, but few times more expensive than Dufan. We still paid for that for one child and one adult while the other adult took care the bags and had nap time in the theme park.
Day 2
After nap time, we decided to have dinner in one of Indonesian restaurants in Kingsford. Our hotel is located in front of tram station and this restaurant is only one tram ride away for 20 minutes. It’s also located in front of the tram stop. So, it was very convenient and I was so excited to see the suburban life.
I recorded the whole trip and it was such a beautiful afternoon. After dinner, we went straight back home and that was when a bit of twist happened. There was fire somewhere so right after we hopped on to the tram, it’s stuck. So, we had to wait for the bus and it was pretty crowded. We couldn’t get on to the first one, but managed to do it on the second one.
We stopped in the front of Hyde Park which became our destination on the following day.
Day 2 afternoon : Trip for Nasduk ayam goreng and Bakso.
3. The plan for day 3 was just to have a morning walk in Hyde Park and coffee then went home to get ready. But, as always, plan was just a plan. Hyde Park was quite big so we spent few hours there. We wanted to visit Paddy Market after that, but, we passed Australian Museum and it was too good to be missed. It was almost 10 and ready to open, so we joined the queue.
Free museum with paid shark section, but it was so good. I really enjoyed the story telling they put in everything.
We went to Paddy Market for souvenir shoppings and some fruits. Then, home for nap time.
For the afternoon, we planned for fireworks watching in Darling Harbor, but it was raining and we had one of a must do itineraries the following day, so we decided to skip and sleep instead.
4. We woke up early on Sunday, prepared the bags and everything we needed to do..
A 6km of coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach.
Normally, the route is from Bondi to Coogee. But, we chose to take the reverse. Because, Bondi is wider and bigger, we want to stay there longer, and it’s easier to go home from Bondi.
Actually, we could just stop at Coogee or Bondi then stayed and played. But, we chose to do the long walk first instead. Some difficulties will add more ‘fun’.
Walking with some weight on the back, climbing up and down with some (a lot of) stairs, scooter on and off, the whinning and grumpiness from both ladies, arguing about this and that, those are not shown in the picture, but they are things that will make you remember the trip better.
Twelve thousands steps taken together will remain in memories longer, if it’s not forever.
Sunday walk with stunning viewTouch down Bondi
We went back and had a nap time then we went out once again for groceries. Enjoyed the night around Central Sydney and the town hall.
Night around Town Hall
5. This was the day where we planned to see some of the stores along the George Street. I wanted to find a proper Mary Jane shoes for little girl upcoming piano exam, paid a visit to Dymocks, the biggest book store here and Bed, Bath and Table in Myers. Didn’t find the shoes but bought something from Dymocks and BBT.
The Arcade
That day was mostly like non-itinerary trip. On the afternoon we just strolled around the George Street for another… groceries.
Wherever we go, groceries is my favorite itinerary.
6. The last full day in the city spent in Centennial Park for morning walk then followed by Bondi Junction to find the Mary Jane shoes for the little girl. The surprise thing was I found William Sonoma store here and so happy about that. One of the places that spark joy for me and the doctor. The beautiful plates, the kitchen appliances, the knives, the pan, the pot, sadly my wallet didn’t really agree.
The heaven
The afternoon stroll spent once again in Dymocks. This time was a Dymocks date with the doctor. Checked out Katherine May Wintering when it’s a signed copy on a sale while he got some cook book stuff.
One last spent for Dymocks
7. Home time.
Final packing and everything, then checked out from the hotel. One last stroll to get a cup of coffee for the doctor.
One last shot from the city.
Overall, Sydney is on the medium range of everything. It’s a good city in every aspect. when Tokyo is on the excellent level of hospitality while Seoul on the other side of the bar, Sydney is surely in the middle. Not a cheap city for our wallet, but not as expensive as Tokyo and Seoul, when it comes to eating expense.
This city is not as sophisticated and as vibrant as London and Paris, but you can still the vibe of Europe here while keep being exposed to lots of Asian cultures. Bahasa Indonesia is often heard everywhere we go, except the road less traveled like Bondi Coastal Walk and Centennial Park.
I used to write everyday during traveling. When it was morning, dark, and quiet. To restore all the memories made on that day into the writing.
But, so little writing made on this trip although the mind has a lot to say. I hope it’s not a sign that I started taking things for granted, because I really (hope I) don’t.
Like I said in the previous post, resumed exercising traveling muscle turns out is not as easy as I thought. Within the 3-4 for years there are a lot of changes happen inside and outside and I am still trying to figure out what’s the most comfortable way to do it.
For example : the little girl. Four years ago, she still sat and sleep on the stroller whenever we went around. Pushing the stroller around, got on and off the bus or train might be tired but we almost heard no whining or grumpy face along the journey. Because when she was well-fed and sit comfortably, she slept. When we stop, it was either time to eat or play in the park and playground.
I am still getting used that we are now traveling with a pre teen that also has a say of what she wants to do, can show her unhappy face whenever it is not the place she’s interested in, could refuse kind of food offered, and keep nagging to visit something to spend her pocket money in a souvenir or accessories store.
Next : money. Unlike four years ago when we were really tight about money during traveling, now we could be a bit relax, with some price of course. One of the reasons why Australia were not chosen few years ago simply because we couldn’t bring food. We brought home made food to all previous countries we visited to save the eating expense. Only lunch spent outside and it was strictly like that.
Now, we still do that by doing groceries store and light cooking. But, we could have options. We could sit in a pretty decent restaurant, then had a takeway for dinner, snacking ice cream and coffee in between.
It’s better of course, but it’s also harder. When you have less it’s nothing to control because it’s not there, but when you’re blessed with more, it’s impossible without an adequate amount of self control. Knowing when to stop is not an easy feat. Just because you can, you should.
Wearing a mask. It’s weird at the beginning that we don’t have to wear mask at all here. I slowly reduce my mask wearing back in Jakarta for the few past weeks. But, it’s sometimes hard because everyone is still wearing them everywhere. Then, one step at a time.
Well, maybe the new era is not bad at all (obviously not bad actually), hopefully, after this first step, more places will follow. Amin.
3: Beaches and coastal walks only 30 mins away from the city.
4. Halal food options are pretty easy to find.
5. The mixture of european and asian architecture in the residence area.
6. Stay in Central is so far the best decision made. Glad I didn’t proceed to cancel the hotel on the last minute just because a wifi issue. Solved quickly.
7. Five days are the ideal length of stay.
8. Late summer soon autumn is perfect weather to travel in Sydney.
9. People are moderately nice. Not that friendly, but definitely not unwelcoming.
10. Independent coffee shop is a real serious bussiness here.
We finally break the fasting of regular traveling after hard thought and long consideration, after putting other priorities ahead for the past three years.
Accidentally exactly three years difference.
Resumed exercising the long traveling muscle turned out wasn’t easy as I thought. The back pain sleeping in sitting position made me think about the comfy bed at home.
The long waiting between arrival and the check in made me wish about this and that.
The messed up routines made me slightly uncomfortable. The only reason choosing this date : Public holiday on Saturday, so no YPM.
Dealing with immigration and customs always makes me anxious.
The high tension of pre-departure where I want the house is clean and clear make me do continuous cleaning even until two hours before going to the airport. Other than Ramadan and Eid, my home is on its best shape when we have traveling plan. Simply because : I don’t want coming back to a messy home. The post traveling mess is more than enough to deal with.
So, then, why bother?
Because being too comfortable and not learning anything new is more dangerous.
Because missing the important years for the little girl training outside her classroom and zoom meetings should make me more anxious.
Because, based on the past experiences, in spite of the hardships and the twists each past travels bring, how intense they were, I don’t have any slightest regrets doing all of them.
We met a mother with THREE KIDS UNDER FIVE traveled alone on the same flight. The littlest one had been crying almost through all the journey. But, near the landing, she had been in so much better mood and I saw them smiling happily when we landed. I was so proud of them. They will surely remember what they’d been through together for many years to come.
At least, it happened to us. First disastrous trip to Paris, where the little girl cried for two long haul flights, the sweat of nursing her a whole night, and she ended up sleeping on the floor until the first transit (that little baby slept in a bassinet), the tension she gave us where it was so packed on that tiny airplane from Istanbul to Paris and she didn’t stop whinning, I sweared after that trip, I would never take any kind of this crazy thing anymore.
Never say never.
After that disastrous Paris, she’s flourished and I broke that promise.
We finally found the courage to resume our regular traveling like we did back in 2016-2019. After completing the (unexpected) tetralogy of Ilana Tan’s trip from Autumn in Paris in 2016, Spring in London in 2017, Winter in Tokyo in 2018, and Summer in Seoul in 2019, we moved to London and the world has changed not long after that.
The trip we did during pandemic mostly two short days trip. The last long trip was Edinburg-Highland trip but it didn’t go with our regular pattern. It was a road trip where we moved places and stayed in four different places in a week.
Our regular travel pattern would be 7 days spent in one city. Stayed in an Air BnB or an apartment with kitchen, no highly ambitious itinerary, play in the playground, stop by for ice cream, get lost in small alleys, stroll by the river, lay down in the park, might not appealing for some people.
Among that 7 days, there would be one day where we took a day trip to other nearby city from the main city. Visited Versailles while we were in Paris, Liverpool and Manchester during London trip, Gotemba for Winter in Tokyo, oh we didn’t go anywhere in Seoul because it was the only trip that we only stayed for five days. At that time, I was afraid we didn’t survive the food, turned out what we didn’t survive was the people. The food was totally ok. Just ok.
Returned from London, we redefined travel. With Covid restrictions, the best and the safest we could get is staycation. We had a lot of it actually. Combining the hotel with good restaurants that we wanted to try nearby. Went to camping twice, which was just okay for me, and another short trip to Bandung last year. Haven’t set our feet further than that.
Last September my brother start pursuing his Phd in Karlsruhe, Germany. It was when the idea of browsing ticket for the sake of curiosity about how much it would cost to go there appeared.
The price of travel tickets has been soaring from pre-pandemic era and I have adjusted my expectations. All those travels that we did it was thanks to the ‘cheap’ tickets that found their way to greet me.
When I searched the price for three packs, it was okay. Not cheap definitely, but doable for our budget (which has been adjusted also from pre-pandemic era).
During my search, I realized it is not only the outside world that has changed, but mine too inside. When we traveled previously, the little girl was just a baby and a preschooler without no other responsibilities. But, since three years ago, there are a set of morning routines that we do daily and it’s quite impossible to do some of it when we travel. I treasure this morning routines dearly and the thought of putting them on pause for a whole week scares me.
On the other side, the period where we could take her for traveling with us is not getting much longer. What every parents should realize is we really have shorter time than we think we have with the kids. Travel with them when they are young, I totally support such idea. There’s no single trip that we regret taking in the past. I enjoyed every places we took her to.
The keys to travel with kids peacefully are two : be firm about eating and sleeping time. That’s it and that’s all.
So I kept searching and tried multiple destinations which might suit our preferences. I finally settled with the thought that Europe was still not doable for now. Thinking about the flight duration, the jetlag, the post travel recovery, we have limited time and space for that. So, the searching continued to those places within 7 hours flight.
I thought of returning to Japan, maybe another city than Tokyo. But, funnily, both me and the doctor have the same opinion about this. No matter how much we love Japan with all the good experiences we had there, returning there once again doesn’t seem a good idea that worth our precious budget and time. Also, the experience of flying with JAL set a high standard which is quite hard to replicate for now since JAL ticket price is totally doesn’t make sense now.
Then, just like many ideas that felt like a sudden turned-on light on my head, a city and area that we haven’t covered popped out. Tried several cities and comparing budget and there’s one city that suits us well.
As always, I never buy the ticket right away. Wait for several days, do more readings and searchings, compared with this and that once again. This is the period where I talk to myself a lot before I propose the idea to the doctor.
After few days or maybe a week or more, I talked about this idea to him. It was 6 months before the trip date. Unexpectedly, he agreed. Thought he would say we had to save more for our current place rennovation.
The ticket I found was totally agreeable. I even found another option with almost three millions rupiahs different, but, of course with some trade-offs. After considering many things, that much difference didn’t seem too much compared to what we could get with slightly higher price.
So, after continuous bismillah, the purchase made.
Unlike the previous trips where I always pack two month ahead (crazy girl), this time, up until a week before, when this post was written, I practically haven’t done anything for the trip. The suitcases are still on the cupboard, although the outfits are already in a separate basket. I have exchanged the currency in the money changer though.
I still have this insecurity and try to keep my expectations as low as possible, whenever we have planned a trip since Covid came. Covid also makes me trained myself to do flash packing. Many of our staycations were the product of sudden decision. As sudden as few hours before.
Well, after three years, maybe it’s about the time. How I miss resuming the trip to the airport.
Yesterday, a reunion with high school friends happened after five years which was the longest we hadn’t met.
I rarely could belong in a group. I am more into solo and the maximum member of group I could survive is three to five. But, it’s a different case for this one.
We met at the last year of senior high school by being on the same science class. High school was quite confusing place for me. I couldn’t fully safe being there until I met this people on the last year.
For the first time, it felt so safe.
What does it mean to be safe?
Safe just to be who I am.
This class is full of, borrowing the word from one of my friends there, socially misfits people. I prefer socially awkward actually. When I looked back, that class indeed was full of neurodivergent people. But, instead of chaos, it was beautifully blended.
For the first time during my school years, I chose to be in charge. I became the initiator of all meetings that happened for the last 20 years. I voluntarily organized those meetings.
When it comes to these people, this lazy me suddenly get my full energy to take care things to the smallest detail.
Just like when I take care Langit.
A kind of energy that only exist because you love something.
I could transform to be extremely extroverted when I am with them. Being loud and talk quite a lot and no pretense. They bring out the other side of me that is rarely appear in the surface.
A kind of personality that blooms when you grow in right soil.
We met often during the four years of college. From a simple eating out, ifthar together, a trip to Kota Tua, visiting a sick friend, attending the weddings and many more. Those were one of the best times of my 20s I spent with others.
But, life happened after that. The meeting slowly changed from regularly to occasionally to rarely then never. There were period where no matter how much I put my energy, it didn’t happen until I certain point I became reluctant.
There were periods where that whatsapp group was in a complete silence for a long time and I didn’t even have the willing to fuel it up.
Early this year, slowly but sure, the flame started burning again. After observing for some time, I dared my self to initiate the gathering once again. Thankfully, this time, the crowd answered better.
Long story short, we had that loud, full of laughter and talks in a restaurant which became our regular meeting point for a long time.
What makes this reunion worth my time and energy is because these people haven’t changed at all. We are the same old high school kids with 20 years older age.
You won’t find anyone flexing and bluffing about how materially successful one is, no uncomfortable degrading question asked. If everyone ask how are you it is literally means how are you.
I once wrote about them in the past after a meeting and yesterday’s meeting energy gave me the exact same feeling.
Joy and love. The one who made you smile and felt warm at heart after meeting them.
I hope everyone is stay healthy so we could have many more meetings in the future.
In one of my favorite books, it said good social relationship is the number one predictor for those who want to be aging well and happily.
This kind of social group is indeed one for me.
The last minute idea to make a group shirt was brilliant. The writing on the back was mine! This is us 20 years from 2003.My love language is words of affirmation indeed
Saturday morning routine view : the music school courtyard with some reading.
Life has simple principles but hard to implement.
Because we lack of patience.
Choose instant rewards over delaying gratification.
That’s the beginning of any kind of problems.
Life is always about how we see it and never about what really happens.
That’s why living life with the right mindset is priceless.
The power of subconscious mind could determine our position. One position in life is never permanent. Doing things will either make it better or worse. But, doing nothing is certainly the only road to the worse place.
Huge part of the future is actually accumulations of the choices we made in the present. Small part yet the most important one is not ours. It’s actually the biggest factor who determines the result.
February is the exam month in the little girl’s music school and I am writing this while listening to her lesson which full of silly mistakes here and there.
A Penny for My Pensieve 