LET'S GO FLY A KITE

Life is what happens while you are busy making plans, John Lennon once said. We're coming to the end of another year and I ask myself where did the time go? 

Between Christmas and the New Year, I find myself watching lots of reruns on television. I hardly ever sit down to watch a movie from beginning to the end but it is different at this time of the year when all my intended crafting projects have been completed, the house scrubbed clean and the winter garden deserves a good rest.

You can never get enough of classics.

Truth be told I needed my annual dose of the Muppet Christmas Movie, Raymond Briggs' Snowman, Jim Carey's Christmas Carol, and Mary Poppins complete with dancing penguins and horses that go up and down on the carousel. 

Every year, one particular scene in a movie strikes me. This year it is Mary Poppins. That is when Mr Banks patches up a broken kite with 'tuppence of paper and string'. A broken man realises the beauty of what is important and the meaning of unconditional love.

I made a Christmas present for a dear friend and when she opened it, she was quite overwhelmed.

"Soo, Omg it's the most amazing thoughtful gift I've ever got. It brought tears to my eyes, good tears. so beautiful. Everyone needs a Soo in their lives. That's why your friends love u. You went to so much effort. The detail is amazing. I'm so happy that I've you in my life, like all your friends would say.'

Wow.

There was a warm fuzzy feeling inside. The feeling of giving love and being loved.

Then I discovered that someone I care for in Malaysia is doing some personal research on the Titanic. I wanted to get her a model DIY ship online but realised that I won't have enough time to get it mailed to me before my departure to Malaysia.  I asked my daughter whether she could get it from one of the gift shops in Dublin. Unlikely, she said. So I'm considering going to Cobh to get it and told her so.

Daughter: 'The lengths to go to! All for Titanic'

Mum      :  'Yeah, I have a big heart. It is good to love those who care for you. Too many times, we                        pour love on those who do not reciprocate.'

Daughter: Absolutely.

Just before the run-up to Christmas, I decorated my car with antlers and a bright red nose because she (my car) thinks she's Rudolph. 

Sadly, someone thought that it was very funny to break an antler. So I got a text from Michael (he woke up earlier for work) who noticed that it was broken.

I used superglue, gorilla glue, plastic glue, wood glue and bandaged it with masking tape. It couldn't hold and fell apart again.

Anyway.

The kite repaired, Mr Banks takes to the street dancing with his children and singing...

Oh, oh, oh!

Let's go fly a kite

Up to the highest height

Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring

Up through the atmosphere

Up where the air is clear

Oh let's go fly a kite

Even as the year ends, let's focus on what matters and repair tiny cracks and gaping wounds.The heart is a very tender thing and we need to guard it well.

                                        Have a wonderful and meaningful 2020.

THE MIRACLE

I find fasting a very good way to keep my life focussed on God. Normally, I would do a fast in January to start the year right for me and my family. Just like Job in the Bible. "When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for his children to be purified. Early in the morning, he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, " Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom. (Job 1:5)

However, in January we will be going home to Malaysia, so I decided to move the fast to December instead. ( In Malaysia, there will be plenty of lunch and dinner invites as we meet up with friends and family so it would be difficult to turn them down.). Throughout the 24 days in December, I've asked God for a miracle.

Just the other day, one of my Irish friends was sharing with me about her desire to uproot herself to another land and to start afresh. It would mean leaving everything she is familiar with: Friends, family, customs, food, traditions, acceptable behaviour and a stable job.

Knowing that she is a very responsible person, I said:

'Go ahead. Even if it doesn't work, you will not live to regret that you didn't give it a chance'.

Her reply caught me by surprise.

She said, 'I have been observing you. I know you have gone through a lot and yet you are an over comer. I don't hear you grumbling or complaining about being unhappy. You emit 'positive vibes'..

Then a few days later, I got a message from a good friend in Malaysia. I asked her earlier if she would like to meet up when we go home.

She said. ' We can meet up la....
I replied, 'That will be great. Haven't seen you for ages!'
She said, 'Kaaannn...would be great to catch up....miss your positive vibes..'

There it was again...positive vibes. I couldn't help but smile. Twice in a week I was told I emit positive vibes. It is really nice to know.

We are more resilient that we give ourselves credit for, especially when we know Who our Anchor is.

And today being the eve of Christmas, when I was doing my daily devotion, I felt it in my heart.

I don't have to ask for a miracle.

Christ is my Miracle.

He has taken care and watched over me and my family all this while. So I will trust Him once again to put things right.

Amen.

WALKING DOWN NOSTALGIC BOULEVARD

It is very strange when lovely images of our childhood pop up when we least expect it. How long these images have been locked in the recesses of my brain amazes me. The best part is I can always check with my siblings regarding the authenticity of such memories as more often than not we share the same memories.

What is childhood without books?

When Mike showed me the youtube video of Paul McCartney's The Frog Chorus, I was over the moon. Then suddenly, amidst the frogs croaking there was Rupert the Bear appearing from behind the foliage. This is one bear that I'm all too familiar with.

My brother had an Annual and I used to pore over it with delight. There was this scene where Rupert and his younger visiting cousin (I think) were standing under a soursop tree. And the little one took a bite of a ripe soursop and said it was sour! I laughed because obviously the writer must not have tasted a ripe soursop because it is the most glorious and sweetest fruit ever! I was only 6 then and already engaged in critical analysis.

Another wondrous book that he had was the Story of Little Black Sambo who went into the forest in his Sunday best only to be accosted by 4 angry tigers.

 Finally in an effort to ditch them Sambo climbed up a tree. The four tigers chased each other around the tree. The midday heat was simply unbearable so the tigers melted and became tiger butter. That is hilarious!

So Sambo's mother Mumbo collected the butter and made pancakes. The pancakes were most delicious and Jumbo (Sambo's father), Mumbo and Sambo tucked in happily with Sambo eating the most. (mumbo jumbo - political correctness was virtually absent then)

So imagine my delight when I found fudge at the Galway Christmas market that is named tiger butter fudge!

The next category of good memories is food. Malaysians generally love food and get very creative over food. In fact, we often go for long drives just to taste some special cuisine. We not only love food, we love to cook too.

When it is cold outside, I feel peckish. So I think of food. Not any type of food but food connected with certain occasions. Who can forget yesteryear's Quality Street Sweets?

And when our father brought us to the cinema he would buy us a packet of Peanut treets. We could also choose the cut fruits that were displayed on a block of ice. Ivory coloured apple or pear halves, sometimes oxidised at the edges. Each piece of fruit had a toothpick jabbed into it.

 Then when we were sick, we would get a special treat. Mum would buy us golden puffs or Bluebird chocolate toffee and that really aided recovery and brought such comfort to the sorry soul.

I guess the memory that captivates me most is the prized turkey or was it the goose? I can't remember. Anyway someone gave us a big fowl, as big as the one in the window in Mr Scrooge's village. We had no oven then, so we brought the fowl to the local restaurateur and he agreed to roast it for us. After 4 hours, a few of us sisters walked down to the restaurant to collect the turkey. It wasn't quite ready yet but what a sight! It was a huge brick oven with an open fire and the chef was generously basting it  with rich thick sauce. The aroma was like heaven and that was how I remembered the whole episode.

It's funny how different present day cookie tins or food tastes like. I'm glad that I'm ancient enough to have enjoyed what is vintage and what is now.

I HAD A DREAM

I had a dream when I was a child. No, I had many dreams. And childhood dreams creep up on me like some Freudian subconscious voice, speaking very loudly indeed in the most unexpected moment.

When I was 6 years old, I passed a shop of 'all sorts' on the way to kindergarten. I call it a shop of 'all sorts' because you can find almost anything there - from zips to pots and pans. But the thing that caught my eye was a lovely hard plastic baby doll that wore a red cloak with a red hood. She had the sweetest smile and blue eyes as big as saucers that could blink. Her natural eyelashes would have put any falsies to shame. I saw the price tag and kept walking and wishing.

Then the final exam came. Yes, I had to sit for an exam at kindergarten level - Asians take education very seriously from a young age. I was first in a class of 36 . My father decided to reward me and so he brought me to the shop of all sorts and asked me what I wanted. I pointed to the doll, wondering if he would buy it as it was very expensive - 6 ringgit or a whole euro and 50 cents. He did and that baby doll was the first and only doll I ever had. Hugging it was very soothing indeed.

Fast forward to 4 December 2019.

I was walking along the aisles of a big toy shop. I entered the toy shop because my good friend was leaving Ireland and my heart was aching. Some people binge when their hearts ache. I enter department stores.

The only words that came into my mind were 'wow, wow, wow'. I felt like I was only three feet tall and looking up at shelf upon shelf of every toy you can ever imagine. Then like a bolt of electricity, a dream surfaced. It was clear as day and I thought I heard a cabbage patch doll crying out, 'Adopt me. Take me home'.

So I started to search for her. Maybe I was looking at the wrong aisle. A store assistant passed by and I asked him to help me locate the dark hair beauty. He looked at me as if I had two heads. He had no clue what a cabbage patch doll is. I felt very ancient indeed.

It is a very different era altogether.

Cabbage Patch Kids are a line of soft sculptured dolls that were created in 1978 . The child who owns a cabbage patch kid had to take an Oath of Adoption with the famous 14 inch doll. Each kid stands at 14 inches and carries her own birth certificate.

No one I knew had a Cabbage Patch Kid. Only children in television shows or children whose parents were surgeons. The price of one would cost you a trip to the moon and back, that was what I was told.

So, what is it with childhood dreams?

I think they are lovely especially when many years later, you can realise them. Everything is precious when there is value attached to it. The doll itself is just a doll. But it is the child's dream behind the doll that makes it precious. And to realise that dream as an adult, has set that desire in stone. The timing was perfect. The doll soothed an aching heart.

So I brought Tamara Thalia home.