Remembering Sundays

When I was a child, my entire extended family on my maternal side would gather at my grandparents’ place every Sunday, where grandma would proceed to cook a feast, the adults would sit around and drink coffee while chatting or playing mah-jong, and my cousins and I would tear around the house, lost in our own adventures and fun and games.

Being an only child and often left to play by myself when I was at home, I loved those moments I had with my aunts and uncles and cousins. We would often sit around the living room, on couches or on the floor, talking about our week, our lives, laughing and teasing each other, and there would always be plenty of food around, whether we were actually hungry or not.

My cousins and I would sometimes participate in these adult conversations. But more often than not, we were happy to sit in a corner playing with our Barbie Dolls, or when boys were involved, it would turn into a raucous play of hide and seek, catch, tag, or simply a game of who could jump higher on our grandparents’ bed.

As we got older and turned into angst-ridden teenagers, those weekends became a time to catch up on gossip and more gossip. And then we got older still, and Sunday’s at the grandparents turned from a weekly occurrence into a special occasion gathering, as we all got more involved in our own respective lives, and were often, simply too busy with our friends to spend our precious weekend with family.

Both my grandparents have since passed away, but my aunts and uncle continue to have their gatherings every once in awhile. These days, funnily enough, when I think about Malaysia, being around their noise and chatter is what I miss most of all.

I don’t know when, or if ever, the entire family will be together again. Ee Laine now lives in Adelaide with her husband and her own little ones. Ee May has made a move to the UK for her studies, while twins Henn Drik and Sze Cheen are studying in Melbourne and Wellington, respectively.

As for me, I’m here in Auckland with my husband, at times missing my fun, loud, noisy and occasionally interfering family so much, it makes me wonder if I’ll ever move back home again.

And then I remember, that this is my home now. And that one day I’ll have a fun, noisy, interfering family of my own to build. And when that time comes, I’ll make sure that Sundays will always be for the family. And that there'll always be plenty of food.

This is for the family who’s always in my heart.

***

I'm looking out the window,

where we sat to watch the stars
There’s a still within the air

that makes my heart long for your touch
You may be miles away,

but as I kneel to pray…

I see the same side of the moon
That we’ll be looking on when the world turns blue
And know that time and space
can’t come between me and you
We share the same side of the moon
And though you’ll never see all my tears shine through
I know I can’t be that far from you
If we’re both looking on the same side of the moon

I picture you across the oceans
In your corner of the world
I pray the wind will find my voice

and gently whisper in your ear
Your night may be my day,

and though the seasons change

It’s still the same side of the moon
That we’ll be looking on when the world turns blue
And know that time and space
can’t come between me and you
We share the same side of the moon
And though you’ll never see all my tears shine through
I know I can’t be that far from you
If we’re both looking on the same side of the moon

I know I can't be that far from you...

If we're both looking on the same side of the moon...

(Same Side of the Moon by Corrinne May)