Home away from home

It had only been a week since we moved to Seattle but it felt like a long time.   In the day we are too busy setting up home and exploring the neighborhood.   But at night lying on the bed and dozing off into sleep, that is when i think of home as we knew it not too long ago in Singapore.

Home was at the Rumah Tinggi flat which we had owned for the last 25 years.  The market, shops and bus shops were at our doorsteps.  We had been reluctant to move anywhere else because of its central location.  Many years ago we had asked God for a flat near town when HDB was offering newly married couples only flats in the outlying areas.   This flat was an answer to prayer and we are so glad that we did not have to sell it when we move here.

This humble flat had been well used.  Tiak Lim and Julia, Jamie and Peter, Lai Peng, Jerry and family, Siew Peng and my mother-in-law had passed through at one time or another.  My parents (particularly my mum, who became a long time occupant) and Tiak Kweng had also shared our home with us.  There were also the happy memories of many meetings we had with our various church groups, both Tiak Kweng’s and ours.  We also knew our neighbors well and even as they bid us farewell, promised to keep an eye on the flat when we are away.

From a flat in a busy HDB block we are now adjusting to living in a little rented cottage in the suburbs.   I always thought it would be nice to have a garden and now there is more than enough space in front and behind the house for me to hone my green fingers.  Some vegetables would be nice but i learned it is too late in summer to plant them.  The class is mown and there are some flowers blooming and I should be content with that.

The nearest mall and bus station are about 20 minutes’ walk away.  A big hospital is closer,right down our street.   It is situated right smack in the midst of 2 cemeteries.  They are well maintained and appears more like well manicured parks.  Maybe it is some town planner’s strange idea of convenience – hospitals, funeral homes, graves and tombstones are at all spot.

In the week we were here we had not met most of our neighbours.  Actually hardly anyone seems to be coming or going.  Only the old couple next door make the occasional appearance, mostly to their garbage bin.   Valerie and Victor armed with freshly baked blueberry muffins had in good CP fashion gone knocking on their door.  They warmed up enough to offer the info that they had been living in the same house for the last 60 years.  The other thing as good CP practitioners do, is to pray for this neigbourhood.  It would be nice still to be able to put faces and names to each of the houses around us.