A heartwarming sight

It is a sight that I will never forget...

6 out of my 7 aunties (六姨's at work) came to my house yesterday to visit my dad after they'd gone to my 外婆's place...erm actually it's 5 out of 6 ....i included my mom inside (duh!)...and 外婆 came along too! So the house was pretty crowded..lots of noise from all the laughter and bantering....

I was at the dining table drinking tea when 外婆 came along and sat beside me...she's 81 yrs old and already she's fraught with the common problems of old-age - poor vision, poor hearing, cannot walk properly, a bit disoriented, skin problems u name them. I couldn't really speak hokkien when I was younger...but somehow i managed to say something to 外婆....much more confident in speakin' hokkien to her after so much worldly exposure to this native language. But i gathered she really had trouble catching what i was saying cos of her bad hearing, so i let her do the talking.

And then 四姨 came over and joined in the talking as though she's trying to reconcile the conversation gap between 外婆 and me. And then 二姨 joined the table as well...and then 五姨 （my mom's #3 out of the 7)....and before i knew it, all 6 sisters were crowding round the table..some standing and some seated....and momentarily, I thought i saw 6 little girls and their mom round this very table where i was sitting at...all of them laughing and teasin' one another childishly...i felt as though i'd just caught a glimpse of a familiar image from 40 yrs ago.

I gave up my seat to one of my aunties and watched them talk from a distance. My mom, being the cheekiest among the sisters, took out a bottle of bird's nest tonic drink and presented it to 外婆 in the most amusing fashion and wished her happy mother's day. 外婆's eyes just circled her girls one round and continue sitting there in a daze, not knowing wad's going on. And then the laughter just went on and on and on....

These 7 ladies (and the missing auntie of course) saw each other thru' thick and thin, witness their beloved husband and father leave this world, saw one another's children as their own, and then continue to live by one another's lives in the spirit of their sisterhood. It's something out of date, a kindred spirit that has ceased to exist in our generation (let me know if you have that many siblings!)...

I really wished i had taken a black-and-white shot of that heartwarming sight at my dining table. It made all feel as if everyday's Mother's day...the kind of appreciation for someone special, someone who'd grown you from a seed to a tree...a kind of love that is timeless and stays with you for the rest of your life.



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