Today we're in to our second day of the Chinese New Year. I paid a visit to my nearly 90 year old aunt yesterday. When she opened the door, she said without a moment's hesitation, "I knew you would come." She ushered me into her living room and signalled to me to sit down.
Aunty lives alone. Her daughter and family live outside town and had gone away for the new year holidays. For as long as I can remember, we busybody relatives had urged her to go and stay with her daughter so that the latter could take care of her but she had stubbornly refused each time.
Despite her age, she looked so bright and fresh in her red blouse with Chinese collar which she always wears on the first day of the new year and which she had worn for the past few years in succession. There was a plate of oranges on her living room table and a jar of new year cookies. She had always been frugal and kept everything simple.
As I looked at her, it came to my mind that someone once said what's the use of having children? You spend years looking after them and after they grow up, they leave the nest. While some show gratitude to their parents, some opt to spend their lives away from them. But in Aunty's case, she chose to be alone and she likes it this way.
Kung Hei Fat Cai, Aunty!
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