Home Of Tong

It’s the holidays again…well…I can’t really say again as it is my son’s first long holidays. He is afterall, in Primary 1 this year. What a year this has been, going to school for the 1st time, and having exams, and now it’s all over. He is going to buddy the P1 next year to bring them around the school! Wow…they thought just send shivers down my bones…haha….

So what is he going to do during this long holidays? I can send him to the BAS (Before After School) care everything and let him play with his friends. Or I can doing something different, like sending him to holiday camps, classes, courses, etc…OK, before you call me a kiasu parent, I want to say that I feel perfectly at peace in sending him to the camps and courses. In fact, I feel that it will be a disservice to him to leave him the BAS care everyday for this whole holidays. But no, I am not going to send him to academic classes, that’s a no no in our family, but classes that hopes to inspire him and to help him to learn about himself.

OK, this is all sounding too noble. I just basically want him to have fun, and hopefully not burn a big hole in my pocket (the last part is almost impossible to avoid). So we started with the school activities, where the school alumni organised the Science and Chinese camp. Than, there is this cartooning camp from the folk in Australia (I do have a soft spot for Australia) that I think will be absolutely fun for Denver (that’s the name of my son in case you are wondering).

We also signed him up for the “Little Entrepreneur’s Camp” where he will learn to set up a real-life cafe, all the way from deco, to creating the menu, cooking the food, and even a trip to the supermart to learn about buying the ingredients. This will top it up with the ‘opening’ of the cafe and serving real customer (the parents) in the final hour of the camp. It sounds so fun that I wish I can be part of it

With money running low after these camps, we decided to look for cheaper ways to let him learn new things. And we saw this advert in the newspaper by PA (People’s Association) that also has lots of holidays activities. So we went online (http://www.one.pa.gov.sg/) to source out the course that we think Denver will like and pick out the dates he is available. So we pick out things like, Magic Camp for kids to learn simple magic, building a 4WD car and race it on a track, Astronomy camp to learn about the stars, galaxy, solar system, etc…Crime solving camp (CSI wannabies), learning Inline Skating (I could have teach, but it may be easier with a proper instructor), and a few others. We will have to narrow them down and decide which is good and which date fits.

So, I hope it will be an exciting time for Denver, before him goes back to school next year to ‘cheong’ (work hard) for another year.

It has not been the easiest week. The sudden death of my grandpa just helps me to rethink many things. I sincerely thank all well wishers who came to show support for me an my family, and those who wanted to come but could not make it. Thank you very much.

I also want to thank all those who prayed with me throughout the week, from getting my parents back to Singapore, to covering for protection, and healing for my son’s fever. It’s great to know that I always have a group of people praying for me whenever I needed most. I just want to thank God for everyone of you.

It was not the best weekend for me, not when you received a call in the middle of the night. Calls in the middle of night is something you don’t wish to have, and it is usually not a good news. We had one just a few weeks back and it was the news of my wife’s aunt who has passed on, and this time, it is the news that my grandpa had just passed away in his sleep.

I couldn’t really sleep after that, as I try to contact my siblings, and my parents, who are away in China for a holiday. Sitting in the sofa in the living room, and thinking how I wish I could have spent more time with him, I wept uncontrollably. Many of you know that this same grandpa, got lost for almost a week before we finally found him at the hospital, when some kind souls found him on the street, injured and soiled.

Since than, his normally healthy body has taken a toll and is not what he used to be. He can hardly walk nor eat properly. After we found him, I told myself that I need to spend more time with him, but never really got down to doing it. Maybe I was too busy in my own life, too busy with the many activities for my son during the weekend, or just giving myself too much excuse, I did not visit him as often as I have hoped. And now, I can’t spend any more time with him.

The thought of it just brought tears to my eyes again, and there is nothing I can do about it. The only things I can do now, is to spend more time with those who are still around. This time, I make a pact with myself again to spend more time with my love ones, I know it will be difficult to do it, but I am more determine than ever to do it. And God willing, I will be able to plan my time properly and do what I set out to do.

I hope this is also a wake up call to those reading this to spend more time with all our love ones. While there are many important things in life to do, I believe time with family and love ones should be right up there in terms of priority. Do not leave it till its too late.

To my grandpa, I will always remember the wonderful time we had together.