Thoughts on a sunny, Sunday afternoon

The view from my study...

It's 1:32pm on this beautiful Sunday afternoon in Singapore and I'm sitting here in my study feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the emotions that I'm going thru today, mainly because of the following:

1. two cousins came over for a 7-day holiday and they, together with my other cousin who is also based here, stayed with me.  We all slept in my bedroom (they refused to sleep in the guest room), shopped, ate, hung out and bonded like the sisters that we all are.  I'm extremely close to my cousins that I really do consider them my brothers and sisters.  They all left last night and my apartment has since seemed so quiet and empty and I felt so terribly alone that last night I slept with the TV and the lights on...

2. music. And lately, it's been The Beatles, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, Andrea Bocelli and Sheryl Crow, and I listen to their songs and think - man, how can music be this good? I keep wondering how people can live without music. I definitely can't.

3. I'm missing and remembering friends. Everyone who's back home and all those who are, like me, living in other parts of the world... I thank God everyday for the friends I have. And I especially remember those who are going thru tough times - please know that my thoughts and prayers are with all of you.

4. I couldn't figure out how the first quarter of the year just breezed by! It's mid-April, and I keep thinking to myself - where did the last three months go?

Two months from now I'll be celebrating my birthday again. I'm turning 34 this year, and despite the fact that I'm in total denial (how I wish I could be 28 again! Don't you think 28 is such a great age???), I know it's something I can never run away from. While writing this I think of everything I could remember from the last 33 years - the happy times, the beautiful memories, the good, the bad and the ugly, and yes, it adds big time to my nostalgia, but it also makes me even more grateful. For all that I have and for the person I've become. I've gone thru so much in my life, and I believe life has taught me well.

I look out and see sunshine and I could only think to myself - it's all good. Life is good.