It's been a strange few days

Last Wednesday was my fathers 77th birthday. It felt strange to me - because my beloved husband Ken was only 70 when he died, and my Dad is older, and he is still going strong. I am so very sad I lost Ken, but so very happy that I still have my parents! I also made a decision, which I told my parents about when I went over to their home on Dads' birthday. Of course, when I told my parents "I have made a decision", my Dads' immediate response was "Oh oh, this sounds ominous!" :-D. Of course it was not ominous in the end, but we'll see how it turns out.

So, what was my decision? Well, I am putting my condo in Hijauan up for rent/sale. And when the new resident (whenever that happens) moves in, then obviously I have to move out. The decision I have been juggling for several months now is - do I get another, smaller, place to move into.... or do I move back to my house in PJ to be with my parents?? It took MONTHS for me to decide, as there are pro's and cons to both... BUT, in the end, I have to acknowledge that I do not have my parents with me forever, and they are both getting older, and (especially in my Mums case) more fragile. SO, Yes, final decision - I will move back home IF and WHEN my place gets either rented out or sold. They were both very happy to hear that, until I said "This comes with certain conditions!" .. heheheheheheh... Actually the conditions are very simple - I NEED MY OWN SPACE. I cannot handle being called every 5 minutes by one or the other of them (which does happen every time I go there!!), I don't want to have to explain where I am going, who I am going with, what time I am coming back, who I am talking to on the phone, etc, etc, etc. I have to be able to live my own life and do what I want to do as well. They agreed... but let's see how it turns out in reality :-D. Luckily I am the only one of us 3 siblings who can actually tell off my parents AND get away with it! If my poor sister tried that, it would start world war 3! Actually, I figure if I am there, I will also be a very good buffer for my sister and my parents too.

Then, on Friday, I heard that a really dear old friend of mine, from theatre days, had gone into hospital. My sister and I made plans to visit him on Monday or Tuesday, and then we got an sms from another friend, on Sunday, to tell us that this friend of ours (Dicky Cheah) had died. Oh my God, talk about SHOCK! Dicky was only 48 years old, had not a single malicious bone in his entire body, was always upbeat and cheerful, and you would have been hard pressed to find another person in the world who had as gentle a soul as he. I found out on Monday that he had Lymphatic cancer - and I guess it must have been found way too late for anything to be done. It was so heart breaking :`(. His funeral is tomorrow (Wed 6th Oct) and luckily my sister wants to go too, or else I know I could not have been able to handle it on my own. It is still too soon after my beloved Kens departure for me to face any other funeral with any equanimity.

On Saturday and on Sunday I had TWO rounds of hi-tea - round 1 with my hi-tea gang from church. Groan.. talk about food overload! My stomach was asking WHAT HIT ME??? Round 2 was with the lovely ladies whom I travelled to Sri Lanka with, and I think by then my stomach gave up questioning and just sulked! From hi-tea on Sunday I went over to my sisters place, as it was her second sons 10th birthday. My brother and sis-in-law and 2 kids were there too, so we had a nice family get together (only missing #1 niece who is in Moscow, Year 4 medicine). As always, when we all get together, we have a lot of talking and laughing and catching up.

Monday and Tuesday have been very quiet days - have not set foot outside the condo complex. Only going out tomorrow for Dicky's funeral.. and then in the evening meeting Koshu for dinner as I have not seen her since before my trip to the UK! Thursday I will be out in the morning to take my good friend Rachel Beena out for lunch, as it is her birthday! Then out with another friend in the evening... Friday out for lunch with Shida (early celebration of her upcoming wedding lunch!), and then I fly off to Australia in the evening for 12 days.

More updates when I get back.... so, till next time, have a great day, every day.