J-emine's reflexionando

I love hearing Ah Ma’s stories of her growing up years, especially post-war. Her childhood was spent living at Tofu Street, hence she was quite the ‘city slicker’ as compared to Grandpa and his family/clan (they resided in Sembawang).

During one of our chats, she shared it’s been awhile since she paid her respect at Thien Hock Keng, the temple was symbolic to her childhood, it was visible from the flat she stayed as a young girl and she would look out to the temple every morning, before she starts her day. In the afternoon, on her delivery runs, she’ll love to stand at the opposite street, witnessing the queue of homeless folks holding metal bowls, awaiting for the scoop of porridge provided by the temple. She said it was always heartening to see the temple provide for the less fortunate and a safe sanctuary for the early Chinese immigrants.

I did good to my promise and off we went to visit her childhood memories this afternoon – we told her she’s the guide, since she knows the place well 🙂 – and being the good guide that she was , we had a nice stroll around the temple ground, praying under her guidance and listening to her share stories and reminiscent of her youth. We were pretty lucky, the temple wasn’t pack to the brim with worshippers or tourists, which made it quite an idyllic and well-spent afternoon at the temple.

The caffeine protest was not going away, so we adjourned to Tiong Bahru for some coffee and croissants. Followed by a brisk walk around the quiet neighbourhood to show Ahma  and Mum the wall arts, couple with loud giggles as your truly ‘direct’ their poses – not too bad, right? These two, so much love.

 My always camera-ready and accommodating, ‘kiddos’ 🙂