New family

With brother's impending departure, mum, brother and I made our way to the city of Taichung in central Taiwan to bid farewell to our new family members(-in-law). I had met all of them at the wedding a few weeks ago, but this was the first time that my whole family was getting together after the wedding.

The first impression I got of the new family was that they are a really genuine and down-to-earth bunch of people. When I met them last, which was just after the lunar new year, I was touched by the fact that they already accepted me as part of the family. To my surprise, I was given red envelops by my new aunties and uncles (in-law)-- a tradition reserved for only the closest of kins and relatives. "Come to Taichung anytime you want. This is also your home now," I was told when I left last time.

And indeed, we were all greeted with the same heart-warming welcome today as soon as we arrived, and taken to fancy restaurants to 'celebrate' our arrival. We sat and ate, and bonded over plentiful food and drinks, over lunch and dinner, merely a couple of hours later, when lunch was only  half digested.

The afternoon I sat with mum and the new relatives, mostly listening to them exchange stories of the children growing up, and life experiences. Really, they are such simple folk, unpretentious, kind-hearted, straightforward people who speak their mind, and whose ideas and trains of thought are very compatible with that of mum's. That's one reason why they all get along so well. Another reason is the fact that we are all connected by the Buddhist monk who we all adore and worship, and somewhere along the line our paths may have crossed before. Speaking of six degrees of separation, I only found out today that I had in fact met a number of the relatives on a number of occasions, when I first started going to the monastery in the mountains around five years ago. Sometimes fate and the way people are connected or united works in mysterious ways...

"Come visit and stay over anytime you want," brother's mother-in-law told my mum. We spoke somewhat about mum's condition, and in many ways the new relatives were very empathic and caring. She coincidentally works in the health department, and may be able to arrange for a special treatment for my mum.

It is a joy to see mum bond so well with the new relatives, and wonderful to see that my brother has married into a family that is so intimate and so caring for one another. In fact, over the past year, my mum has been in touch with the mother-in-law, and they have also seen one another a couple of times, and both are fond of one another. Earlier this evening, as we all wandered through the park to walk off dinner, I saw my brother hand in hand with my sister-in-law, while brother's mother-in-law walked before them holding mum's arm.

"Don't worry about your mum," I was told, as the day drew to an end, "You just go and finish what you have to do. We will try to take care of  your mum..."

With that I felt a weight lifted, a worry in my heart subside, and felt like I was one step closer to letting go.