Friday, April 12, 2013

Of Felicity And Gatherings

One of the best things last month was that we managed to catch up with lots of family and friends for fun gatherings. The Bees are lucky in that they have lots of cousins and childhood friends to play with - other children who had stuck with them since babyhood, and who had grown up together with them. I thought this gives very special meanings to their first understandings of friendships - that friends grow and blossom together, and that - try as they should - friendships should really be all about long-term cultivation and sustenance.

We were lucky to have connected with our usual 3 groups of friends and families last month.

1) The Cousins
They had been hanging together since they were infants! Not only did the Bees have lots of girly cousins to play with (we need more little-boy cousins!), the grandmothers (all sisters!), who are usually chaperones of such gatherings, can use these beautiful opportunities for well-deserved gossiping and chatting!

We met up on the Thursday of the March school holidays at my house for a day-long of playing and swimming. Everyone was so reluctant to leave each other at the end of the long day!

2) PF and kids
These children literally grow up together from babyhood. Playing with baby toys like building blocks, bumbling baby gibberish together, exploring the world together and building sandcastles as pre-school kids, and now, as 3 of them are trundling into their teens, their idea of play is now playing chess and sitting around, chatting and gossiping. I am glad that the tiniest one amongst them - Little Bee - is being accepted wholeheartedly and is holding her weight very well with these big guns!

We had a great playdate on the last Friday of the March school holidays for a whole afternoon of Kinect and chilling between the girls. By evening, the hubbies as well as Eugene were back for a cosy steamboat dinner where the adults were busy chatting and eating on our dining table, whereas the 4 big kids ate rambunctiously and talked amongst themselves in another table! Talk about independence!

3) The Clique's kids (wow, it rhymes!)
The mothers (us!) had been very very good friends for 27 years. 27 YEARS!!! Oh my! And although our busy lives sometimes prevent our kids from meeting all that often, we still hope our kids will continue to hang out with each other until we are old, toothless grandmothers. I am glad that we are all meeting a little more frequently as our kids grow older.

On Good Friday, all of us trooped down to LP's house for a sumptuous dinner as well as fun and games for the kiddos. The adults had such a wonderful time catching up and gossiping, whereas all the kids (7 in total!) screamed, ran, chuckled and had a blasting great time in LP's house. We vowed to have more of such gatherings in future!

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