Tuesday, 13th July 2010, 22:12 hrs
It was a rather hastily arranged meal with Fred, his wife and our psychiatrist Dr Julia Tan. Dr Tan was recommended by a doctor friend some years ago when that friend thought I was in need of help to deal with my grief. Then, my friend made some negative comments about Dr Tan, as is his bad habit. However, Dr Tan turned out to be totally different from what my friend said about! Patient, caring, sensitive, unassuming, and always going the extra mile...
Since I came back to Singapore, they thought I should get to choose the place and the type of food for lunch. My same old habit when it comes to food is to go to the most convenient location, and so we settled for YMCA, Stevens Road.
Fred went for the fish head curry, while I preferred more green vegetables. After all, I truly and, if I may say, religiously miss green leafy vegetables! Yet, this trip back I've had very little green leafy vegs, something I quite regret. Perhaps, when it comes to the two meals on Wednesday I shall have nothing but vegetables!
This meal is simple, yet full of nostalgia. For half way through the meal, a friend during our teenage years whom we have not seen for more than 30 years suddenly turned up! Fred had arranged for him to join us for the meal. And it was so wonderful to have met this friend, 陳國興.
During our short lunch, of the many questions 國興 asked me, two were of particular significance. The first was whether I had sold off the flat in Bedok. We used to live in Bedok North Street 2, a family flat which we first obtained from the government in 1978. A few years after mum died in December 1978, we decided to do a simple renovation of the flat, using rubber tiles with the help of 國興. The Bedok flat was the first flat our family moved in, after moving from place to place for several years, i.e. from 1974 to 1978. Well, that question calls to mind the sorry departure of mother at the end of that year.
The other question 國興 raised was whether I was married, to which I said I was married and my wife has passed away for 7 1/2 years. He didn't ask further and we simply left it there. However, this reminds me of this very YMCA, where years ago when Nat and I first began dating, she once suffered from very severe insomnia and I took her to a psychiatrist from Raffles Medical, which was then located nearby YMCA Stevens Road. After seeing the doctor that time we came over to YMCA for dinner. And it was then that we got to know this YMCA's restaurant.
Years later, when she suffered again from which she never recovered and eventually ended her pain in a most tragic manner, I then realised at the time when we were dating, she was already showing signs of mental illness. Today, 國興's question once again serves as a reminder that Nat's illness was part of her genes. Perhaps this is what living in a fallen world means...
Perhaps, some people are simply less fortunate, while others are more fortunate... some go through this life without much suffering, while others face one tragedy after another...
Yet, as we share this lunch, I cannot help but be reminded of our transcient state. After all, 國興, Freddie, and myself were all young lads, we were all 14-16 years of age when we first met each other. Yet, so many years have passed. And we're so close to our personal oblivion...
I'm tonight reminded of the psalmist's prayer, 'Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom'...
