Thankful

Since the last session ended last Friday and I really hope everything is back on its schedule by now... I had a busy week and a long weekend, during which I managed to go across the board and got some books to read. 

I was late for SIC's sept take but was able to complete it last night.

Mainly used Jenni Bowlin's July kit, Anna Griffin's paper is beautiful as usual, I cut out flowers from two different pp and layered them together with the blue fabric flower from MME. The blue lace is a true beauty,right? It caught my eyes years back when I first set eyes on it. There are always things in your stash that you wait for so long to use it in a right place, and that's for it here. 

That's me and my mother ways back in Sichuan, in front of the house we lived, during one of the summer holidays which I travelled 2 days and 2 nights by train from Shanghai to Sichuan to visit my parents.  

With all the love for the country, my parents left Shanghai in their early twenties to serve in the southeast, which was called inner land, they thought they would not be away from their hometown too long, but in fact, they spent over 20 years there. In order to give me the best education, I was sent to my grandparents when I was 3 years old, my mum only allowed to have 2 weeks holiday every four years to visit Shanghai while my father was able to go business trips often to Shanghai to see me. When I was old enough when in primary school, they arranged their friends whoever happened to be in Shanghai around July to bring me to Sichuan for summer holiday and that's the best time for me in a year! I could be with them day and night!!! Grandma was very kind but still different from mum and dad, they just spoiled me! You can tell from my smile on the photo!

Eventually, mum couldn't take this any more, how can you not seeing your only daughter every day? and some more, need to wait for so long? She took sick leave and moved to Shanghai to be with me when I was thirteen, but this didn't work out either in the end coz my dad was too lonely too! But time really flied fast, I soon got into the high school and needed to go to Sichuan for university entrance exam. However the best school in town was 3 hours train away from where they lived, again I was put into the boarding school. Later I left for uni in Beijing, they settled back in Shanghai, I started teaching after graduation but 11 months later, I came to Brunei. 

All my life, I haven't really spent any quality time with my mum especially, by the time I settled with a family and wished she could come over to be with me, the bad news arrived, it's too quick and too late to fight back, though she was such a brave woman, if we could have know just a bit early, how I wish I could notice something early... if I could, I'd do anything to keep her, I just have so many thing to tell her...

My dad is a great photographer, he used to take loads of photo for my mum, then me and now my daughters. I remembered the time he hid in his dark room and developed the photo, I would be the first one to see them if I was around, and all these black and white beauties are all kept safely in a large green file box in our home in Shanghai, in where I like to go through them again and again every time I go home. Thank you dad for record those precious moments and thank you, mum for teaching and giving me all the strength to live a full life. I love you and miss you so much.

Let us just take a moment tonight, to thank someone in your life and let them know you love them.