Auntie Wisdom

It was the time of the month where I had to purchase my season parking coupon. The queue in the HDB Area Office was especially long during this time of the month and I had waited 45mins (Yes…I’ve prayed for patience).

While I was "patiently" waiting to be served, an auntie who was queuing in front of me suddenly turn to another auntie who was behind me and asked her, " Are you XXX?"

" Yes!" exclaimed the one behind me.

Since that moment, their conversation kept me entertained for about half an hour.

Imagine me sandwiched helplessly between the two aunties who were oblivious of my presence and chatted mindlessly away. They had made me felt like I grew up "eating glass and drinking tap water"…i.e.… TRANSPARENT. (I know…patience)

From their conversation, I gathered that the two aunties were once very intimate friends. However, they had lost contact after one of them went to China for work 6 years ago. Their conversation started from the warm up phase of asking each other about their husbands and kids; to the peak of reminiscing the good old times that they had shared. While talking about the old times, you could see that their eyes sparkled and images of their shared past seemed to have been projected in their eyes. As they spoke excitedly, you could also hear the pitch of their conversation scaled from one octave to another.

Finally, it was the auntie in the front’s turn to be served. After she had bought her season parking coupon, she turned to her friend and both gave each other a faint smile while politely nodding their head. No goodbyes or requests for future contact. Normalcy to their usual life seemed to have been reinstated immediately from that moment.

For a while, I was dumb-stricken with such callousness displayed by the aunties. But after further contemplation later in the day, I guessed I was slightly enlightened by their action…

Reminiscence often brings about a mixed emotion of bittersweetness. Sweet because of the good memories shared. Bitter as the memories are in the past where you know that you cannot go back in time. Sweet again because such memories are treasured as it cannot be replicated. Bitter again as the memories are your treasures but sadly you can no longer be a part of it.

Perhaps, the aunties were wise afterall... instead of lingering and holding on to the past to the extent of being overly sentimental and detrimental to thier daily lives, they moved on… till their next chance encounter.