Singapore Adventure

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

The Best Is Yet To Come
by venitha

Age 35 was not one of my better years. It started with a queasy autumn suffering from an unshakable stomach virus and ended with an inactive summer impatiently coddling a broken pelvis.

So I was happy to turn 36 in August 2004, to put the worst behind me. Or so I thought. I spent an idyllic fall, making extended visits to beloved family, tentatively reclaiming my body for the upcoming ski season, and debating with Jim the pros and cons of moving to Singapore.

Then came 2005: Happy New Year! And all hell broke loose. My list of complaints about the year 2005 is endless and depressing. As I'm currently home alone, I'll play it safe, gloss over the gory details, and merely summarize: 2005 was a most suckful year.

But I survived, and now here I sit in January 2006, happy once again to put the worst behind me. Or so I hope. To quote my father, "Time will tell, as he always does, the blabbermouth." Blabbering aside, if you listen closely, Father Time is quite the sage. What he's taught me so painfully these last few years is that while the worst is likely not behind me, the best, too, is yet to come.

There is no surer proof of this than my mother-in-law. She could make a list of her own bitter gripes against 2005, but instead she planned an expedition to Singapore and dubbed it the trip of her lifetime. In her time here, she has tried new foods (her favorites: mangoes, Jaggi's butter chicken, and spicy kangkong), obtained new stamps in her passport (Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia), and played with some animals she's met before (elephants, snakes, and monkeys - oh, wait, that's Matthew!). Her smile and energy are infectious. These last two weeks, she has positively glowed.

So here's to putting bad times behind you and to glowing with happiness. The best is yet to come.

venitha