I was sipping my glass of moscato with a group of old and new friends tonight when I caught myself off-guard for a moment. There I was, laughing and fooling around with a bunch of people I didn’t even know this time last year (other than one old friend. But as Sue always say, “an oldie but a goldie.”) and I found myself smiling to myself as Keane was playing at the background.
I’ve been saying this for months but sometimes I still want to pinch myself. I’m happy. I’m so truly happy right here and now that everything seems so perfect at the moment. (well, other than the impending deadlines that are scaring the hell outta me…) I’ve came a long way this year. I really have.
I may not have gotten married or pop yet another baby like some of my peers. And despite not having these generic milestones the past year, there are still so many things I’m grateful for. So many. Even the seemingly bad moments.
Right now, I’m grateful for:
- My job. A younger me took my previous jobs for granted but now, after a year of freelance writing (not that I didn’t love that year of freedom, haha), I know I must always be grateful that I have a job. And one that I absolutely love? I must be crazy not to be thankful. I marvel how everything had happened in the past year to allow me to land this great gig. Truly – every thing does happen for a reason.
g - My boss and colleagues. Is it too fast for me to declare this? Things may change in the future but right now, thank you Life for putting me in a work environment where I just adore my boss and colleagues. Each of them and their idiosyncrasies amuse me to no end everyday and despite our multinational and multicultural backgrounds, we are all the same. I love exchanging knowing looks with a few kindred spirits among my colleagues and I love how they make me laugh my ass off just by being themselves. And the ex-colleagues that were never quite mine to start with – AS and MJ. Fast friendships do happen in real life!
g - Fashion, art, photography and architecture. In my own little mind, I categorise this group as “beauty”. Beauty is everywhere around us – all day, every day. In good fashion, good art, good photography and of course, good architecture. I’m grateful that they’re such awesome sources of creativity and how they inspire me endlessly with their beauty. I love how my exposure to them makes me learn so much about history, sociology and psychology.
g - New friends. The girl and boy friends I’d met through the course of yoga both locally and while I was travelling, thank you for being the epitomes that one is never too old to make new good friends. Regardless of our nationalities and backgrounds and whether you’re skyping or emailing from Toronto, Tokyo, Sydney, San Francisco, Beijing or Amsterdam, you are amazing examples that we’re, again, all the same.
g - BADSPY. Our friendship is like an elastic band and I’m grateful that despite the fact that sometimes it stretches thin, it’ll always rebound to original form. Maybe cos I was the runaway child who left for two years and came back again, I feel the evolution of our friendship more. Nevertheless, I absolutely love us for who we are. I was rereading the Christmas cards we exchanged this year and as cheesy as it sounds, they warm my heart. :)
g - My travels. Thank you for opening my eyes and mind and allowing them to rethink our so-called set of ethnics and morals. Who said we would always stay the same and never evolve? And of course, letting me realised I’m more independent than I let on and that I’m amazingly open to every possible experience Life may have to offer.
g - My mistakes. Whether grave or trivial – you’ve opened a floodgate of lessons that I would have never learned if I’d never committed you. Thank you for the wealth of knowledge and teaching me that learning gracefully from mistakes are just like passing our school examinations with flying colours. Yes, even the ones that I’d made at the sake of losing some people from my life for good. It’s OK because they were meant to happen.
g - My family. A father who relentlessly fetches me anywhere I wanna go and makes sure I have my dinners that there’s no such thing as “out of the way” when it comes to his daughter. A mother whom is generous and loving to a fault, and also ridiculously innocent yet endearing. A sister who’s ethereally unfazed by anything. She’s my role model at living a simple but loving life. She embodies the saying “keep calm and carry on”. And the small little people she’s given birth to who love and adore me unconditionally and the best teachers for teaching one how to appreciate the little things in life. Candy is no longer just candy. They’re EVERYTHING.
g - Music and movies – the perfect escapes and yet one that often allows me to connect to another. Sometimes they transport me to other worlds and sometimes they bring forth a whole slew of epiphanies. My creative little soul needs that outlet that ignites all my senses.
g - My best friend who, somehow, seems to have mastered the perfect mix of goofiness and grace. Thank you for creating this friendship with me that’s so strong and effortless that it befuddles me to think of a situation that can possibly rock it.
g
and most of all,
g - My Self for being relentlessly optimistic and hopelessly romantic. For continually surprising me at how strong I can be without going all girl power and feminist and I can walk my talk. For being able to always seek the lessons in every dire situation instead of blaming the world. And most importantly, for never taking myself and Life too seriously.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
