The Last New Year..

Chinese New Year's coming up next week... I'm looking forward to it, but I feel real sad at the same time.

This'll be our last year in Malacca, since both our grandparents are gone... The aunties and uncles have decided that they'll sell the house this year, after 2 years of postponing it mainly due to a lot of pleading and whining on our part.

I can't imagine a CNY that's not in Malacca. We've been celebrating it there since I was born! That's 20 years of tradition, folks! Now I can understand a little of why older people have such a hard time adapting to change.. It isn't easy at all, having to get used to something new...

And none of us know what we'll do next year. There're are lots of suggestions about what to do and where to go, but I know one thing for sure - it won't ever be the same again!

Everyone goes back to Malacca - EVERYONE. But a lot of the time, it's coz it's like an obligation.. on the part of the older generation, at least. So if we go somewhere else, there's no guarantee that all of them will join us - in fact, I'm pretty sure some would end up making their own plans and skipping the family gathering, if not entirely, then just showing up for a day and that'd be it.

And crazy as it sounds, I'll miss the experience of having 20 people live in a tiny single storey house, with only one toilet and one bathroom. It's always crowded and noisy, with things all over the place, but it all feels.. right. And God knows, when you live in such close proximity to each other it's bound to make you closer. And it has! It really has.

I'll miss the short walks we used to take in the mornings and evenings to the jetty just behind our grandparents' house. And I'll definitely miss watching the sun come up over the calm sea, and setting with the in-coming tide. We had such fun on the jetty... It's a pity we only discovered it 3 years ago!

We probably will be going back to Malacca again, but not to the same house where years and years of memories linger. We won't be doing the same things, or feeling the same way. I can't help but think that it's such a pity....

With the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations, the last link to our roots will be gone.