From tears to laughter
Grandma is much better.
She's now able to joke, laugh, chat, eat and sleep.
And wow you with all the happenings in her hospital ward, like why the patients around her are there, who visits them, what the nurses are up to etc.
Even though she can't get out of bed, her eyes and ears are ever-observant.
And her memory can put those decades younger than her to shame.
Sometimes it's hard to believe that she's 93.
Surgery's on Thursday, and we're believing God for a miracle as she takes the first step towards recovery.
Anguish
Pain is when you see a loved one sobbing on a hospital bed and you can't do anything but pray.
I have not seen grandma cry this bad since my uncle died prematurely more than 10 years ago.
Her hurt was not physical, though she had a displaced hip bone and could not even sit up, much less walk after her fall.
It was more emotional - the fear of the unknown, the trauma of falling again, the unfamiliarity of living in the hospital for the first time in over 10 years, the taboo of possibly needing surgery.
Lord, please give her the will to live, and give me the time to visit her.
Spent the evening there with my aunt, joined in between by Pastor.
I wish I could just stay there all night, just holding her hand.
But I could not. And she would not let me.
Back
The reality of life hits you like a thunderbolt when you receive a call from the office with your next assignment as your plane is parking at Changi Airport.
I was just returning from a one-week trip to cover Tiger Woods in Shanghai.
Come on man, the plane has not even come to a halt?!
Oh well, enough complaining.
Shanghai was great, though it would have been perfect if I had not caught the flu from another journalist on Thursday.
An average day was as follows: wake up, watch golf, file report, dinner, massage, sleep.
The place has not changed much - heavy traffic, rough people, expensive shopping, cheap spa.
The weather was pleasant this time round, unlike the daily drizzle I experienced last year.
Still no luck with the Woods autograph (not that I bothered to even try this year), although he was less guarded.
Back to the real world...
It's gonna be a Manic Monday
Well, my bags are not packed, and my visa is not ready to go.
But I'm leaving on a jetplane to Shanghai on Tuesday morning.
And it doesn't help that I have to be at the airport by 6am.
Throw a Monday column into the equation, and this blogger is going to need divine strength to survive tomorrow.
Help!
I've to finish my work as early as possible, and run to the China embassy twice in-between.
In the words of The Bangles song
It's just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
'Cause that's my funday
My I don't have to runday
It's just another manic Monday
