Back to Normal

It’s been about two weeks since my family last performed our daily gratitude ritual. We resumed the practice last night when we found that we were all by ourselves as our remaining visitors had a separate dinner out. Then, I realized how busy and full of energy the household had been over that same period when the families of two of my brothers stayed with us to attend two important family events that were only a week apart...an annual family gathering (of the whole clan of my late mother) that we hosted and the wedding of another brother.

Apparently, the boost in positive energy our household got because of the presence of our closest relatives that we haven’t seen for a long time was enough to sustain the positivity even without the nightly counting of and thanking for blessings received. There were just so much activities together and positive interactions to sustain our individual feelings of happiness and contentment.

But the mood this morning was subdued and the high energy that carried us through the past weeks was ebbing as we brought our remaining visitors to the airport. Talks about crying now turned to real tears as we drove all the kids in the same car to spend their final moments together. They won’t see each other for one, two or even more years. It was heart-breaking to witness their different ways of handling their emotions. My eldest daughter cannot (or did not?) hold back her tears early on, whereas my niece who is a year younger tried to talk her way out of crying, saying out loud that “those who cannot hold back their tears are weak.” We had to assure her that it’s okay to cry, and she eventually did. Our older son quietly sobbed beside his more boisterous younger cousin who was the last to declare that she’s also gonna cry. Our toddler was more of the witness who repeatedly announced that everybody’s crying as he sees it from his vantage point at the backseat.

Tonight, everyone took turns declaring what it is to be thankful for. After the rounds of the more usual stuff we are grateful for, my wife happily stated that she’s thankful that things are going back to normal...to assure the kids that everything's gonna be alright even if their cousins are now many miles away. My daughter’s rejoinder that the house feels empty was telling of her sadness. Before dinner, she was able to talk to her cousin over the phone as the latter was waiting for a connecting flight from Singapore to Adelaide. Their exchanges were happy.

As I write this blog, my older kids are not in their rooms. They are sleeping in the living room in the spot where they and their cousins used to huddle together every night for the past couple of weeks. I guess we would eventually settle back to our normal routine, but not tonight…not yet…

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