It's 11:49 pm. Lau has just rushed out of the door, landing at 9:30 pm from Malaysia, to catch another plane going to Shanghai at 1 am... a brief exchange of words and he was gone. He arrived a week ago from Shanghai, together with wife Vivien and son Jian. They spent 4 days here in Singapore then flew to Malaysia to spend Chinese New Year in their hometown, Penang.

Tomorrow, Papa's leaving on a midnight flight to Japan. Next Saturday, Vivian and Jian will be back from Malaysia and Lau will be back from Shanghai. On Tuesday next week, Papa will be back from Japan.

On the 25th of the month, Lau's family will fly back to Shanghai.

Next month, Papa will have to go on trips to India and Indonesia. In April, he will be in the US. In May, he will be back in Japan, and then Korea, and then Shanghai.

Wow... everybody in this house is coming and going so fast... like a speeding train, one moment here, the next poof! The memories of my moments with them come like a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes, falling one after another in no orderly fashion... in the end, looking like one big collage... a hodgepodge of clutter.



Is life breezing past me?... Maybe so. But then, I guess somebody has to hold the fort. Somebody always has to... right?