What makes you cry?

A sad story? Watching a sad movie? Sending a close friend or relative off and won't be seeing them for quite awhile? Being fearful? Being hurt? I guess there are so many ways to make a person cry.

For me, its photographs of past. Of memories of someone or something cherished. Today, uncle Bill send me an email. And told me about family portraits they have taken and it was hosted on the photographer's website. He said "quick, go and see. Because we do not know how long the photos will be hosted online..."

Visit this website to see all the photos..click FEATURED(at the top) and scroll down to view YEOS.
http://www.frozenreflections.com/index2.php

And so I did..and in the glimpse of the photos, I saw a collection of memories past. As if it was telling a story of moments we had in the past. Of the tears and the joys of life itself. Unfolding right in front of me. I saw Uncle, Auntie who loved me as if I was their child. Uncle Bill is my mom's elder brother. The big boy in the family of Yeo's. They now lived in Vancouver, Canada and has been living there since my marriage in 1988.

They would visit us once in a bluemoon. But these days, uncle is getting too old for long trips. Health is not on his side. My greatest wish was to be able to fly to Canada and spend time with them.

I remembered some years back, they visited Singapore and stayed a day with me. At that time Natasha was barely 4 years old. Uncle, Auntie and I sat in the room, talk for hours and we started crying! Natasha asked me did Uncle and Auntie scolded me? I told her "no, we talk about the past. of my days as a child, and how they loved me and took care of me."

Now looking back to old photos I had kept, there is only one photo which shows me combing uncle's hair and he was trying to lift me up to sit on his lap so I can reach his hair better..



And that was uncle, forever loving, forever forgiving. Like a father who loves his little one, he loves me! Every Sunday, I spent all my Sundays with him and Auntie. From my tender years as a baby till I was a teenager. I would spend all my school holidays with him too.

He and auntie was my Sunday parents. Before Church starts, he would drive us to a Hainanese kopi tiam(coffee shop at Joo Chiat Road) and would get me a pack of Magnolia Fresh Milk and a yummy cream puff for breakfast. After church, he would drive us for lunch. Then off to his home at Bartley Road. I would stay there till after dinner and my dad would come by to pick me up and go home.

During the school holidays he would fetch me to the Singapore Swimming Club at Tanjong Rhu area. Where he had membership. He would show me how to tread water, and allowed me to play for hours on end. When I was very young, I remember Auntie bathing only me, not even John, her only son who was younger than me. This is how much a person can love another!

One photo in the photo gallery at Frozen Reflections that speaks out to me was this. I had to do a screen shot to show this.



Seeing them in their autumn years now captured only in photography. If only, I could be there with them, growing old with them dailly. If only....

Here is a song called the Circle Game by Joni Mitchell, sang by Steven Curtis Chapman. And the lyrics for the song is also very touching. At least to me.


The Circle Game
By Joni Mitchell

Yesterday, a child came out to wander
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Then, the child moved ten times 'round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, "When you're older", must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town
And they tell him, "Take your time. It won't be long now.
'Til you drag your feet to slow the circles down"

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through.

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and 'round and 'round
In the circle game
And go 'round and 'round and 'round in the circle game.