The passage of time can bring joy as well as sadness. To me, since the day my grand daughter was born, happiness is my daily concomitant of life. Recalling the first day of her birth, as a grandfather I was maybe, even more excited than my son-in-law. I rushed to Mt. Alvernia Hospital and looking at a tiny wrapped-up joy with her pinky closed-eye face, so delicate and defenceless, I reminisced how my daughter was exactly the same as my grand daughter now.
From day one, it was easy to notice the progress of Claire Ho Jie En (my grand daughter's given name). A bundle of joy for my daughter as a first time mother. Now the reality dawned on her, what it is like to be a mother with the amount of sacrifice and sleep-deprivation she had to forego to care and love her child and my lovely cutie Claire.
Days passed and it became months. Every step of change is a joy to behold. From lifting her head with a firm neck to crawling on all fours, then lifting herself up with her tiny delicate hands supported by a chair or stool, it is a marvel how the evolution of the human species adapted to the passage of time.
At six months, her intelligent showed with gesture of hand and answered to her name when called by turning her head towards me the grandpa. How I love and adore Claire. I love my daughter Endra too, but it is a totally different love now as when she was a baby.
Claire is the jewel in my eye. I like so much to carry and hug her tight. But her restlessness got the better of me and she will wriggle to be let down on the floor so she can crawl around. Such an active little cutie pie.
It is like six winks of the eyes and she is one year old. Everyone celebrates her first birthday, showering Claire with hugs and kisses till she revolted with her tiny defiant shout. But no one willing to let Claire down. My wife and me acting like our second childhood to attract Claire's attention. Both 'fighting' for Claire. That was the best joy and treasure of life my daughter ever gave to us in our silver years of retirement.
With the demographic change of the family nucleus into a small family of maybe just four, two parents and two kids, the strong cohesiveness of family bonding has really lost its essence of 'crowded' joy and warmness,
Claire's great grandmother, that is my mother at 94 years, is swarmed by a battalion of sons, daughters, grand daughters & sons, great grand daughters & sons. We experienced the joy of bondage and togetherness during my mother's recent birthday last December which I wrote a tribute to her. Our grand old Dame at 94 years old. We all love our grand old mother. She is blessed with so many grand children and great grand children. We are a cohesive family of eleven members inclusive of my father amd mother. But father has left us many many years ago. We miss and love him.
My huge extended family nucleus can be viewed in facebook which I posted my grand old mother's birthday group photo and my cute lovely Claire's progressive growing up snapshots.
A picture is worth a thousand words. So I let the photos tell the story. Please access my facebook (but you have to be a friend first) to see and feel the joy of my life watching my Claire growing up daily to her first birthday and now she has taken the first little step of humankind and walking with the sweet innocence of a one year old, bouncing here and there with unsteady tiny steps of courage. Claire is slowly and surely trodding into her second birthday in April 2011.
The passage of time brings happiness and joy. The passage of time is a never-ending
cycle of human procreation and 'reincarnation'. The wonder of nature at its best with the evolution of time. And time is everyday's life and death. We live to see a lifetime of eternal bliss.
Patrick Lee Song Juan
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