As with every Chinese New Year's routine of visiting and catching up with relatives and friends, I will end up being very reflective when all is over. As I gather updates on various people's lives especially that of my cousins', I seem to be watching rolls of film that unfurl before my eyes. I remember them as children, as teenagers, as youths, as young parents; and that was when the yearly big gathering of 4 generations stopped with the passing away of my grandma followed gradually by aunties, uncles including my own parents. Now the big CNY gathering is replaced by individual selective home visits to the surviving aunties where I gather news about my cousins whom I now hardly meet.
As with people of our age, sickness is inevitable and health woes are common. Then there is the consistent worry as parents over the adult children with the usual range of problems from marriage breakups to financial difficulties. No one sails through life without setback and pain, even those who are often described as blessed with fortunes. As I reflect upon each life story over a span of 5 to 6 decades, the high and low points, the happy events and the sad, I am reminded of the temporal nature of each experience. Every situation be it one of sadness or one of joy passes on. The phrase "This too shall pass" best describes the impermanence of each event in our lives. Being aware of this helps us to mellow as we age.
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