My most vivid memory is of my sister and I sitting at the vast expanse of our wooden kitchen table, a stack of wonton skins between us with a dish of water and a bowl of pork. The Chinese dishes my mum cooked for us throughout the year included various stir fries and her wonderful black fungus pork soup but when the New Year rolled around, we were treated to more intricate dishes. To give some context, my family consists of my Chinese-Malay mum, white dad, and my sister and I who were born and raised in Scotland. The celebrations last for fifteen days (Hogmanay, eat your heart out) but my family and I have always celebrated Chinese New Year in a fairly small way. This year, we’re welcoming in the year of the Rooster (my year, and probably yours too if you were born in 1993). This is why it changes date in the Roman calendar every year: its date is determined by when the new moon appears between 21 January and 20 February. Fresh starts are ready for you when ever you are ready for them.Chinese New Year is the celebration of the beginning of the new lunar year. Fresh starts can happen again and again, bringing the past along as memory and learning. There is no need to wait for the new year to embrace something. More recently, I am less crooked and more sentimental, a little softer. ![]() For years, my nature was to be a little “crooked”, the Newfoundland word for contrary. It is easy to look back through rose coloured glasses but the truth is most of us do the best we can with what we have on our plates. My son says, “You are so much nicer now.” Then a little while later, he said, “You know I think if you still had little kids running around, you’d still be cranky.” We both laugh, acknowledging the truth. I sometimes look back and feel a little sad that I was at times a cranky mother, rattled by children running around, meals to cook, visits to make. There was no time for the community, and only a little for ourselves, but now time has opened up again and I have embraced it. Our children are growing and our lovely parents have been gone a few years now. I missed being a cranky mother with young kids.įor years we were between aging parents, and young children and all the pressures that come with that. ![]() It came unexpectedly and took me surprise. I never imagined that I would feel a empty nest because I always longed for time to work, time to play. It is quite shocking to find time open up before you. I learned that since my children are growing and no longer need me to be waiting for the bus at two thirty, then I must embrace something outside of that. I joined the library book club, the local curling club, a downtown business committee, and a local radio station. This fall I started to make lots of changes socially. I have learned that I have to be adaptable. It is not saved up for the first days of a new year. ![]() ![]() Every morning is a new beginning, a chance to start again, to make a little change. Starting fresh is a lovely idea but I really believe you can do it any day of the year that we do not have to wait for January 1. If you have them, I can say that I hope for you. I just can’t talk about resolutions, and new beginnings. Dear Diary, I know that a theme of New Years might be expected today.
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