The man left for ox-town yesterday to attend the coming out of school event for his first-born on May 12. We deliberated and vaccillated and debated for so long on the merits and demerits of all of us going together. In the end, money sense and the difficulties of withdrawing the kids from school for some days won. And he went alone. There is a desperate longing though in my heart. It has been such a long and difficult journey through hills and valleys to this event that it is going to haunt me for a long time for not going to see her wear the gown and mortar board and witness the beginning of a new chapter in her life and ours. Take lots of pictures, daddy. Tomorrow has been a long time coming.
Just sent the two to school and not looking forward at all to a morning of cleaning, scrubbing and washing. Sigh. Is this what life is all about? Work your butts off weekdays to put food on the table and work your hands to bits weekends. And in between, you get the pleasure of sending them off to golf lessons, Chinese class and school activities. And you get to do grocery shopping and once in a while to exercise so that you will not die prematurely of a multitude of problems that seem to dog you once you hit the big 40 and bigger 50.
Soon enough, Nic will be off to college too and the Half Man will be a Man himself. I am looking forward to not picking up after them, to less laundry, more time for ourselves and fewer visits to the supermarts. For years, it has been embarrasing at check-outs watching the NTUC Fairprice cashiers ring up hundreds of dollars of stuff. It always felt like we were running a camp of some kind, the way the grocery carts fill up. You can't win though. An empty nest is likely to be also a time of lines criss crossing the facial landscape, of sagging jawlines, of the bane of osteoporosis and nagging fears of all the ailments that prove Nature values mostly the reproductive genre.
But enough of paranoia. Chores await. Then some relief. Maybe even time to read the papers. Small town news.
The highlight of today is likely to be Spiderman 3. Can't stand the pestering anymore. The Man would never go so now that he is conveniently out of town, we may as well check this off the list of to-do's. The kids promised to wash my car in exchange. We shall see if the exchange takes place as plotted.
Maybe tomorrow while the trio in Buffalo attend the passing-out parade and help mortar boards fly into the air, this trio will take a trip to Half Moon Bay to see what the place looks like. It seems to be a popular seaside place. Pictures will be posted. Ciao!
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