Marriages are made in Heaven

Last night we braved strong winds and a heavy downpour to attend the wedding of my dear old friend's daughter.

Despite the rain, all the guests turned up at the five-star beach resort to honour the newly-wed couple who will be making their home in Ozieland.

I made the acquaintance of the bride when she was nine months old, in the arms of her mother. As she grew older, I had the privilege of being her English language tutor. She later furthered her tertiary education in Melbourne and returned to work in Penang where she met her husband. Indeed, as one of the guests said, " Marriages are made in Heaven" for how could this young couple, staying in different parts of the country separated by the South China Sea end up as husband and wife?

Last night's function saw the attendance of several hundred guests, most of whom were the friends and relatives of her parents. We met quite a number of friends whom we had not seen for a while and it was an enjoyable evening catching up with them.

THe bride's mother cut an elegant figure in her cheongsam
while the bride was radiant in bridal gown. The proud beaming father gave a witty speech which had the guests laughing, making it a truly momentous occasion for the young couple. I took the opportunity of having our photographs taken to mark the occasion.


I also met another lovely young lady,one of my former English language students as well, now a vetinerary surgeon based overseas. She was the bridesmaid. Both bride and bridesmaid are childhood friends.

It gave me great pleasure to see how wonderfully well they've turned out, thanks to their mothers who taught them well and how lovely and gracious they were.

The world is now their oyster and may God continue to bless them. May the newly married couple have a happy and fulfilling marriage, may their union be blessed with the pitter patter of little feet soon, to gladden my dear old friend's heart.

Christmas Joy

We didn’t have a lonely Christmas thanks to the generosity of church members who hosted “ open house” on the eve and on Christmas Day. Even the heavy rain on the eve did not dampen the Christmas spirit. As with open houses, there was lots of food and barbecued meat too so everyone had their fill.

Our grandchildren returned on Boxing Day. Their flight was
delayed so it was quite late when they reached home to be greeted
by a lovely Christmas tree with all the presents waiting underneath.

However they were too tired to open their presents
and kept that on hold for the next evening after their mum returned from work.

The joy of seeing what lies beneath the wrappings does not diminish with age. The children were just as excited looking for their gifts and handing ours to us.
Cookies and biscuits for their granddad and a labour of love in the form of sudukus painstakingly collected over a year and pasted into a book entitled “The Surprise” was a great gift much appreciated by him.
He dived into the book straightaway that evening.

I received a lovely purse from Japan where they had been for a short holiday for the snow,
an unusual luggage tag,
silky pyjamas and a set of embroidered towels.

This year we gave the grandchildren books as they are voracious readers. I also gave my daughter a book and was very pleased when she said that she had been wanting that book and was waiting to buy it the following month.
So she was delighted with her gift and her dad gave her a pretty hairclip which matched her clothes.

The giving of gifts is a traditional practice associated with Christmas and it is the spirit of giving and receiving that is more important than the gift itself. The sharing of the occasion imbued with “peace and goodwill to mankind” goes a long way to foster friendship and goodwill.

It is regrettable that Christians are still persecuted in some countries. Respect for one another’s religion and the right to practise one’s religion should be instilled into the young so that peace will prevail within and among nations. The message of Christmas is love and has always been. Those of us who can celebrate Christmas in joy and without fear are blessed and have much to be thankful for.

Forewarned is Forearmed

It's good to know the symptoms of a heart attack so that we can know if we're having one and we can also help others who may not know.
A well-known symptom is pain on the left arm. However, there can
also be intense pain on the chin or jaw as well as profuse sweating and feelings of nausea.
Sometimes there may be NO pain during a heart attack and many who had such a heart attack didn't wake up. It's usually the norm to have chest pains.
Once we recognise the symptoms of a heart attack we should
immediately place 2 crystal aspirins under the tongue where they will dissolve and we can swallw them with some water. These crystal aspirins work faster than the tablets so it's advisable to keep them handy.
After that, we should inform a family member or friend to get us to the hospital. Meanwhile we should NOT lie down but sit up and wait for help to arrive.
It's good to know that we can do something to help ourselves in such situations.

One Smile Makes Two

Making friends is not as difficult as some of us may think. I’ve heard some people say that it’s hard enough to begin a conversation with a stranger so how to make friends?

Usually it’s eye contact first and then a smile. Smiles can do wonders. They break whatever invisible barrier there may be and from that point on, it’s a “Hi” or “Hello” etc., etc. and the rest follows naturally.

This was what happened outside a doctor’s clinic. An elderly woman and a younger lady were standing outside waiting for the clinic to open when I walked up. They looked like mother and daughter. The older lady looked at me and I smiled at her. In return I got an answering smile and she asked if I were also there to see the doctor. From then on, we traded information on why we were there.

So it was a casual conversation but somehow it gave a nice feeling that people whom we don’t know are friendly once the barrier is down. Smiles are what bring down barriers and they are the seeds of friendship.

I would like to share this song which I was taught in elementary school. It goes to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.

A smile is such a funny thing
It wrinkles up your face
And when it’s gone
You’ll never find its secret hiding place.
But far more wonderful it is
To see what smiles can do
You smile at one, he smiles at you
And so one smile makes two.

I don’t know who the composer is but I think it’s beautiful and my teacher taught us this song, telling us to smile all the time so that we can make more friends. This is why I’ve never forgotten the lyrics, old as I am.

Smiles are like rainbows, always pretty to look at.

They make a person more approachable, right? The smiling
girls are my sisters.