Bridge to Once Upon a Time

Something unexpected happened a few weeks before Chinese New Year.

My paternal cousins whom I’ve not met for about 10 years decided to meet up. And so came about a meeting that gathered all of us together.

We spent our childhood together in our Grandmother's house. Our parents would go off to work, and it was the place we would go back to after school, be it after the "morning-sessions" or before the "afternoon-sessions" for the whole bunch of us. You could say we spent most of our early school years there.

Fast forward to 2008, meeting again 10 years down life’s road, this time with a plastic white McDonald's table between us (instead of the warm brown wooden table we were so used to), we were looking at faces that were familiar and yet foreign, defined by certain characteristics that each of us had since taken on.

I was surprised. We were initially hesitant and afraid that we would not know what to say, or how to start. So many years of our life we could share. But somehow, our conversation flowed. It would bore you to be told of what we talked about exactly :) But for us, those were milestones and symbolic, because they were topics that we knew existed in our lives once upon a time... and they’ll always be part of us.

I thank God for bringing us together again after the many years. I thank God for relationships that were built effortlessly - relationships built through silly games played as kindergarden kids, relationships that somehow remain a part of your life, though people may drift apart… and ignore each other for the longest time. But when we have the chance to look at each other again, we’ll somehow find the ability to smile, and look into the pair of familiar eyes you once knew so well and say…

“nice to meet you, cousin.”

Is there someone like that you know? Maybe all it takes is just an SMS or email to build that bridge. May the Lord bless the relationships of your life.

A Blessed New Year to Everyone!

Shuyan