Esther, who is on my right side (and first time appearance in this Blogger), informed her elder sister, Grace (on the right) and younger brother, Jun (on the left) about my news a few weeks ago. They immediately decide to fly in from Hong Kong to provide support to Esther, and also to "come and see me"!
Grace, together with her son, Ivan and Esther's Mom visited us in summer 2008, so she knows what to expect in Vancouver. Meanwhile, it's Jun's first time here although he has been planning to come and visit us for a few years but never materialize. Now, all of a sudden, idea becomes real and here they are already in Vancouver for almost a week.
If you pause for a moment and reflect back, how many times in your life that you wanted to do something and you planned for it for a prolonged period of time, but yet, you give yourself one reason (or excuse?) and another just to push the plan back. Then, someday you woke up at the middle of the night and feel sober about yourself as you are unable to control what happened, or worse, your dream has not become true. Keep in mind that there can also be incidents that you may have missed an opportunity that will never be happening again. You missed it ... you missed it! The unsettlement, or even the guilt feeling, will be with you in the rest of your life. You now keep reminding yourself what you missed but not what you have achieved. The message here: Act now thus you have no regret in future!
Jun took the opportunity, come and visit Vancouver the first time. He is taken extra good care by his friends here, almost non-stop sight-seeing, eating and shopping everyday in the past week. Then, in the evenings, chatting, laughing and playing with his nephew and niece. Of course, he also provided the family support to Esther and "saw me" keeping good! He called his Mom in Hong Kong the other day and told her that "If you see Matthew yourself, you won't believe he is sick!" Hahahah! Look at the picture above, do you really believe that I am sick?
When you are immensed in Love and Care and wonderful family members like Jun and Grace, the illness may occupy your body, but it can never take away your happiness and joy! Any challenges can become an enjoyable process!
What a wonderful feeling this musht be. Yes. sometimes life is such a strange affair that sometimes it takes dramatic events to bring out the "sudden realization" of what we should be doing. we probably all heard about the story of a man in his death bed being asked what he would have done differently in his life and the reply could be anything BUT never: "I should have spent more time at work!"
ReplyDeleteYes, Matthew, your message is clear to us and we all take heed to it.
On a separate issue, yesterday I was driving by the Newton Hotel at North Point and instantly my memory flashed back to 15 years ago when we campaigned together briefly for your election to the regional council (was that it). I remember giving out flyers and getting the locals to shake hands with you. That was fun! It is really small things like this that gave meaning to life and enriches our memories forever.
Thank you. Thank you!
You got that right Matt... Family is the most Valuable thing in Life and we should all cherish it... Like Mother to Child... Siblings to each other... We should all act it while we can... Is so sad to see those Court Cases suing each other among families... 'Cos in the end, you still have leave everything behind when the day comes... =(
ReplyDeleteIn particular, Parents are the Greatest One that they won't give-up on their Children... They'll be doing little things along their sides and hope that one day, their children will be doing fine in Life (in all aspects)... Therefore, while we can, just keep telling your Mother, Father & your Love Ones that how much you appreciate them...