Arriving at destination...

Recently, my hubby decided to outsource his job of directing me to places to a Garmin GPS for a low low price of $169. I guess it's worth its salt if it means lesser arguments about unclear instructions and exploring more places in his absence.

We tried it out the first few days and the princes were tickled by the GPS going 'recalculating' or 'u-turn when possible' whenever we took a different route from what the GPS recommended. We joked that the GPS some times kept very quiet because she was having her tantrums or PMS and that maybe we should change it to a male voice which may be less talkative.

I have mixed feelings about the GPS. When my hubby is overseas, I feel more secure going to places with it but some times, the direction it gives is different from what seems to be the correct route and it can be frustrating because I can't scold this damn thing or ask it questions. In such situations, I have to re-activate it to re-direct. According to a friend, Singapore is very small, so it's impossible to get lost. I disagree. Anyway, what I love about this machine is that I can save some favourite locations and there is an icon that that says 'Go home'. I feel safe knowing that even if I got lost, I will somehow find my way home. I hope.

A piece of our past

It's strange how we form emotional attachment to inanimate objects. Our coffee table had been with us since we got married and moved into our first house. It was a simple square table made of low quality wood. Yet it weathered our daily abuse over the past 14 years and still stood strong on the day it was abandoned.

The day before the new coffee table was due to arrive, I told my hubby that maybe we should keep our old coffee table after all. Ok, stupid suggestion. Then, I suggested that maybe we saw off a leg of the table and keep it as a momento. Stupider. So, we just took a picture of the old fellow, in its usual form, with remote controls, toys, cups and anything our 2 princes put on it.

The day the new coffee table arrived, I received it without any emotion. Unlike the old coffee table, this one is more elegant and is made of good quality Indonesian wood but lacks character and a certain charm that the old table had.

I guess human beings are nostalgic suckers. We associate anything, from an old coffee table to Michael Jackson with our youth and time lost. We grieve for MJ not because we love him. Come on, we don't even know him. We mourn the lost youth and freedom that we had during the times we listened to his music and watched his rebellious crotch-grabbing dance moves. In the same way, the coffee table held many many memories of our early married and parenthood years. It witnessed our fights and hugs, held our TV dinners, heard our stories and grew with us as a couple and young family. It has stopped becoming a furniture but a part of our lives.

I tapped into the logical part of my brain and told it to let go of the old fellow. Maybe it will serve a purpose for its next owner. For now, I have to get used to the new coffee table - the smell, the shape, the texture and move on. Like the slogan in the movie 'Meet the Robinsons', 'Just Keep Moving Forward', we cannot be stuck in the past. And we shouldn't. So I guess the new coffee table has to earn its keep and hopefully last long enough to bond with us and become part of our children's memories too. When they have their own homes and coffee tables, I hope they will remember the happy times they had in our home and around our coffee table.