a certain saturday

I bring my thoughts back to a certain saturday last month. 5th March.

I was allocated to visit a new elderly which was in itself something new - usually i visit my "favourites" who are the canto ladies. Mdm A, i have never met before nor seen her photo. I recall stories of her from the sharings by the rest. 

We entered the house, and it was not what i imagined. she is an energetic lady. and most outstanding of all, she had a great great sense of humour. like a welcoming senior, she made sure we felt at home and talked to us like friends, sharing her stories and thoughts. i loved it. 

I particularly like meeting someone for the first time and looking into their eyes, wondering what is going on behind them. what does the person really feel and think. sometimes, you meet someone and you talk about something personal, and sometimes you hear about something personal. it is an amazing feeling to talk to someone you barely know the way you talk to someone you knew your entire life. that is what i get sometimes in this community. the elderly who are really sincere and open, nothing to hide behind, just showing their true selves. 

Somehow i felt a little connection. as we talked, we nodded, we watched tv, we added new topics, we joked. i love it when we can joke around. i think making light conversations and adding humour into mundane small talk is one of my better skills, and now i know it is certainly one of Mdm A's as well. 

There were two particular moments that brought me a wide smile, 0.5ml of tears to my eyes and a much lighter heart for the weekend. 

Firstly, she told us how thankful she was of some volunteer that came to visit her, helped her and came to be her friend. She said she wanted the organisation the volunteer was from to give her an "outstanding" or "excellent" award or something like that (the exact words were much better at summarizing her love for this volunteer but i forgot). As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes and it was apparent that she was emotionally shaken up by just a simple recollection of how she was helped by someone. I am thankful and i wished i had a way to record this scene in front of me and play if for the particular person to see how impactful her kind work is. heart warming.

Secondly, she shared with us that she loved to work. she used to pack laptops in a company and before that other jobs as well. she told us she made many friends there and enjoyed herself much. now that the company feels she cant contribute and she has to retire, she misses out on the times when she has the company of her colleagues of different races etc. indeed, work may seem stressful or sometimes boring, but having friends and sharing great times with my colleagues is one of the best things that keep my spirits up and not dread going to work 2 hours away from my bed. the smile on her face just talking about the times she had enjoyed at work was very encouraging and it is a great lesson to all young adults in singapore.

Really thankful to have spent that half an hour to one hour time having a chat with her and feeling much more appreciative of what i have today. hope you have the chance to meet her as well. and i hope she tells you a ghost story :D

- Kai Him.