Chapter Forty-Nine: Appreciation

I managed to cross paths with Roderick on the way to the mosque (arriving an hour early for prayer, mind you) and finally got to see him after such a long while. Conflicting schedules, commitments and destructive behaviour have kept us apart for a relatively long time.

Went back to TK yet again with Selena, Cheryl, Brian and Tim. Ian and Jasmine were there too, Nikki came later and then Yi Feng as well. Had a good time laughing and playing about. Rachel came to collect her money from school with Joan and Bao Xian.

There’s something about TK that makes me keep going back to her, because I love the familiar atmosphere and the way you can act like a total idiot and no one would say anything. That plus the fact that I have great and funny company, make fridays good days.

There is no reason to go back (supposedly for my blasted money) but to play around. I gave 6 free donuts away today, sorry Sele and Cheryl. One to Judith, to Sanjana, to Ashley, to Brian, to Uncle Cheng and to Jasmine.

Maybe it’s just the want of familial faces and the safety and comfortable intuition that I have with them that’s absent from MJ. Homesick? No, school sick. TK sick rather.

/

After having my fun till around 6.30, went to meet Roderick for coffee. Thank God he was free and thank God it was almost spontaneous decision to ask him out for coffee. I had already typed out the message and was contemplating on whether to send it but in the end I did because…what the GP teacher said the other day struck a chord with me (bear with this Roderick).

We were tasked to write an essay on what we would do if we had one year to live.

The following lesson he gave us back our essays and asked us, “You have many things that you can do now but you don’t want to. You don’t need to be conditioned with a terminal illness and be told you have one year to live, to start appreciating the people around you and cherishing your friends.”

Maybe I should start doing that.

I started with the first friend I made in TK. Keeping in touch with everyone is important, I don’t want to lose anyone in TK. So if I ask any of you out for dinner, it’s only me or someone else as well, but you know the purpose.

Had a good time eating mudpie, coffee, salmon sashimi by the fountain with Roderick, doing what we do best, talking.

Life should be gratituous and as unexpected as today was.