Invitation letter

(Liberty Times, 29 July 2012)

"You are again thinking of that person who made you unhappy, thinking of those words he said that made you hurt, and also thinking of the things ge did that made you upset.

Thinking, thinking, your mood depresses, anger then gradually, gradually rises.

So then an originally good morning or evening is again ruined by this person. No matter where you go, no matte what you do, this person is closely lint to you, following you like a shadow.

Darling, whenever you are thinking of the person who made you unhappy, it is like sending him an invitation letter, silently allowing him to come accompany you, disturb you, destroy you.

So, let him to, let him be, and do not allow the person you despise be your company...."

Dashed dream

It was supposed to be along anticipated dream come true. I was felt so alive yesterday, and that first hour or so I got on the bike today. But truly, the pain is unbearable and unlike any I've experienced before...

I went to a specialist pharmacist and explained my problem. He told me to stop my biking plans and to really rest, or otherwise the injury might get even more severe than it already is, for the more I bike on the more strained my muscles around the knee will be.

Perhaps it is difficult to imagine how devastating this news is to me. I have been really planning this, been looking forward to it, believing and telling myself (and others...) again and again that I can do this. But my body cannot... Simply cannot... My body is too weak and I am too weak to do something like this...

Maybe as my brother said, I biked too far and for too long on the very first day. And this after not having exercised for a long time... But still, the disappointment is great, for I had this entire journey planned out, and was all prepared and imagining the beautiful things I would experience and see. The pharmacist (and also the bike shop owner) told me I should really rest and not over-do it...

This was a dream, a personal dream, and a promise to my mum. In fact, I have a "bit of her" with me, symbolically in the form of ash from the incense we offered her those two weeks from her passing to her cremation. And I feel I've let her down, and let myself down...

I need to rest, I know that. I need to train better and prepare myself better for such a strenuous trip. And I know I may most likely have to give up this dream, at least for the time being... (or for ever? I'm not sure...)

But it hurts and is so devastating... Because I placed so much of my hopes and dreams on this very journey...

Memories

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It was merely a split second, a moment when I was getting food at the buffet restaurant where I last was about a year and a half ago.

I saw the fruit platters, the wonderful chocolates and cakes.... And I remembered. I took a few pieces of handmade Belgium chocolates, and they were so good, I offered some to mum for her to try...

Similar types of chocolates are on offer inside a refrigerated cabinet... But there's no one I could share that sweet bitter taste with...

Misfortunes

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This is turning to be a terrible trip.
Perhaps I expected far too much, and so can only be disappointed...

First my knee became terribly sore (better now, but still unable to walk, let alone bike, long distances...). Then as I planned to take the bike on the train further southward, to the hometown of my parents, I was refused entry to the train-- for a reason I do not understand, because last time it was fine and no questions were asked! And now the weather is changing, and a terrible typhoon is approaching closer and closer, with torrential rain and strong winds expected...

So I'm limping when I walk, my morale and spirit is wounded, and making my way to the train station to take the train (or bus... It's terribly crowded and the height of the summer holidays). Not what I planned at all... But is anything ever as planned?

I just want to get away, to go somewhere where I can be myself and stop pretending, stop smiling and keeping up appearances. I just want to spend time alone or with someone dear so that can pour my heart out... Because it's so tiring to carry a heavy heart around and so tiring to mourn without really crying...

But life cannot always be what you want it to be. You cannot get what you want, and will just have to make peace with that...

Long awaited journey

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I've been thinking about this day for years, and been planning it for months. The dream to bike around the island (or at the very least as far as my legs and energy levels can take me...) is supposed to be a life changing experience, something I need to rediscover the meaning of life and to spend some time on my own. After Mum's passing, this is perhaps as good a time as ever to embark on this long awaited journey.

So I set a date, today, after much of Mum's after-affairs have been dealt with (now we are just waiting for confirmation from her former employee to pay out some of her retirement fund). I probably should have train Ed a bit, or at least biked around the block, for after all, it has been over a month since I last packed away my bike and placed it under Mum's bed to store.

I got the bike out, dusted off the dust, and assembled it together late last night. And eight hours or so later, I was on the bike, beginning my journey.

There were moments I sang to myself. The excitement of hopping on a bike and the freedom that comes with that is so exhilarating and liberating. As I peddled southward (going around the island anti clockwise...), my thoughts drifted to mum, to various moments in the past few months. I saw mum, watching me from afar, goading me on. Before, when I told her about my dream, she told me: "go for it. Go realise your dream." I'm doing this right now, mum!

Feelings of joy were mixed with feelings of loss and pain... Sometimes so strong I could almost feel my tears mix with the almost incessant downpour (terrible weather, but at least it's not too hot...yet.)

I needed this time alone, time to myself to think over events and experiences, or at least let them wash over me and see what impressions are left behind. I need to know I can be strong and determined, and that I can do something so many people when they hear about it say: "That's crazy!" I need to show and prove to myself I can do it, I can exert myself and tire myself and excel.

Of course, there have been various moment during the day when I felt I couldn't make it. My legs and knees ached badly, probably from the lack of exercise and sudden repetitive motion for hours. My body needs time to adjust, not only to the strenuous exercise, but also the humidity and the roar of cargo traffic on very busy interstate roads and exprssways.

A "brother"

Trying to remember

When I try to remember, my mind is blank. Can I picture her face, can I replay the sound of her voice or laughter? I fear with time I will forget her, because when I try to remember her, my mind is a terrible, terrible blank...

I wrote to a friend that this is more or less how I feel now. There are moments of terrible pain and indescribable feelings of loss. And then there are moments when life just goes on, as if she never existed-- and if she never existed, then she never did leave. Then there are moments when I long to lie next to her and watch her sleep. And there are moments when I long for her motherly advice and warnings. (which I admit at times I readily dismissed because I'd heard these warning over and over again...). But those memories, those moments appear to be so very vague now, even though she has been gone less than a month or so. How much has happened in these few weeks!

Is a part of me trying to block out mum's memories, trying to drown out and suppress the past and mum's existence so that I will not feel, so that I will not hurt?

I want to cry... I want to hurt so that I know I am alive and really living!

At the dentist

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There are going to be moments, and today I had such a moment, when I will forcefully feel the pain of having no parents... And I can only say, it is so very, very painful...

I went to the dentist, one recommended by mum, to see what can be done about my wisdom teeth. There are four which should be removed, for it will only be a matter of time till they start hurting. The big problem is, the bottom two wisdom teeth are growing horizontally, which is rare and will prove to be tricky (dangerous) to remove.

Back in Canada, the dentist told me to have them removed. But the dentist I saw today, who had helped my brother almost a decade ago with his wisdom teeth removal, told me an alternative and better solution. He recommends keeping the wisdom teeth but instead removing the teeth which are directly next to the wisdom teeth on either side of my jaw. After that, I can adjust the wisdom teeth to fill the gap left behind by the removed teeth. The roots of the teeth he recommends removing are already damaged by the horizontally placed wisdom teeth compressing on them, so he says if you remove the wisdom teeth, it will only be a matter of time till you have to remove the damaged teeth. "Why pay more and go through teeth removal twice if you don't need to?" he told me to go home and think about things, and somehow even though I've just met him, I have a lot of confidence in him. Perhaps because he came so highly recommended by my own late mother.

A lady, also a mother who was there with her son, overheard our conversation. Out of good will, she said: "Go home and ask your mama about it. You don't have to remove the wisdom teeth as other dentists tell you to..."

I know she meant well. I said nothing, but her words made me feel sudden pain and loss. I have no one to ask now. No mother who can advise me, no parent with whom I can consult from now on whenever I make a life-changing (or in this case, potentially life threatening...) decision. I really felt like crying, and telling them: "My parents are both gone... Who can I ask now for advice...?"

I thanked the dentist for his expert opinion, and said I'd go home to consider things. I left the dentist and became so sad. The streets of Taipei just felt emptier, much emptier...

Surge of emotions

It just dawned on me again... Who can I turn to now for advice? Who can I just call up and ask for an opinion on important decisions and not feel like I'm imposing my feelings and insecurities on someone? My mum was there, always a phone call away. But she cannot be reached anymore.

Just the thought of that can send me tearing

Brother's check up

My nephew climbed around me, shrieking with innocent joy and laughing so loudly and happily. There is an innocence that is so invaluable, so beautiful, so admirable, and nobody and nothing (except perhaps by growing older...) can take that away from him. I watched him play, and looked at my brother sitting on the same chair that mum used to love sitting on. My brother saw my face become sad, and asked: "What's wrong?"

 Nothing is wrong... Everything is fine, except I envy my brother, for he has a family, a beautiful child. These can mean so much at difficult times, and can add to the joy and bliss in happier times. When he goes to sleep at night, he is surrounded by his wife and child. Of course, married life and family life is not without problems, and I should not idolise his life for I have little to complain about... but really, at night when I am alone in bed, I sometimes find myself reaching out into the darkness, reaching out for human companionship and a warm body to comfort my tired, tired body and wounded mind and soul.

"You really should pay attention to your health. Look at him laugh and play..." I said. My brother came home after an entire day at the hospital for a very thorough body check up. A lump was found in his intestines, too small to be of worry, but still, it is a lump. Otherwise, his weight and layer of fat around his tummy is the greatest cause of concern, and the doctor told him to exercise more and loose some weight. Moments earlier, my brother held his son and they rubbed their cheeks against one another. My brother kept on asking his son: "Did you miss daddy? Did you miss daddy?" The baby giggled so happily and shrieked. It was already half past ten in the evening, but still seeing dad for the first time today made my nephew somehow so high. That was so moving and beautiful to see.

"Two people are dependent on you now, so you really have to be more careful," I said, "So really, take good care of yourself..." I hope what I said didn't sound like nagging, and I do hope my brother heard me and is more alert. Because what he has, as I have told him a couple of times before, is so precious, and he should take better care of himself so he can take better care of his family for a long, long time to come...

Will

Mum wrote a will on my birthday last year.
I first read it the day after she passed away. I was trembling as I read it. And I immediately put it away after I read it. I did not want to read it again...

And now I have the "honour" of translating it for official purposes.

It is so painful to touch and read these pieces of paper which bear mum's very own handwriting.
It is difficult to imagine this person is no longer around, and that these wishes come from beyond the "urn"...

Pain of loss

There are moments when the pain of loss is too unbearable, when even crying is not enough...

There are moments when you realise again the significance of not having any parent to turn to, and are reminded that you are on your own now...

Yes, this is the ultimate, ultimate feeling of pain and loss, the ultimate, ultimate feeling of longing. Nothing, nothing is as painful and, at the same time, as numbing as this.