01 Jan 2003

We Can’t Have Everything

My husband gave me five days off to do my own things. I did not know why I was extremely anxious over my three children just before I left Kuala Lumpur for Melaka. Instead of looking to the long-awaited break, I dreaded the possibility of missing my children. But the immediate presence of an elderly grandma in the bus set off an enjoyable conversation that soon released some of my tensions. We exchanged views on the traffic jams of Kuala Lumpur, talked about our sons and daughters and the ease of the public transport system these days.

All the grandma needed to do, whenever she missed her grandchildren in the city, was to walk across the bridge that lay just off Jalan Munshi Abdullah in Melaka town, hop on to one of the several buses that headed for Kuala Lumpur, and get picked up by waiting sons or daughters at the Pudu Raya bus terminus.

“It is so different from those days when travelling to K.L. needed much more planning,” she added. Only one missed luxury though – no traffic jams then. She almost missed the 3.00 p.m. bus due to an hour’s car –ride from Cheras to Pudu Raya bus terminus. Yet, who would think of living in the olden days again?? Life goes forward, not backward, whether it is for the better or for the worse!

Father, help me be single-minded and contented today.

For Meditation and Prayer:
Ecclesiastes 3:6-8