"Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odourless but altogether perfume the air" 

--

let me start on my parents and the little gestures. 

my parents. to start with, i am already blessed to have a healthy complete family - mother, father, myself, and a shelter to call our home. i know of others who has an incomplete family many of whom are my closer circle of friends. with parents who are divorced, to a death of a kin, to having to sleep separately. 

i did not use to appreciate dinners at home with my parents as i do not like to do the washing and helping my mum with the cooking. neither did i like to do grocery shopping as we will have to carry all of them back home and store it. i'm sure many teenagers out there detest doing these too. but believe me, until you're out working till odd hours and not having enough time a week to dine and spend time with your parents, then you'll know that dinners and grocery shopping is what brings together a family. my family may not be as spontaneous as others where picnics, hanging out in cafes will be possible. still, we hang out at hawker centres. it's all the same. what's important is the time spent and that each family member embraces each other's companionship. 

modern family these days settles their dinner anywhere other than home 6/7 days of the week and probably have a family day where all families gathers at the gramp's to feast on home cooked food. that's when i realise that i am really fortunate to have a mother who cooks. delicious, mouth-watering food every.single.day without fail. the only time we eat out is when there is a special occasion or when my mum is too lazy/sick to cook. it is not easy to come out with different dishes everyday, almost 7/7 days a week. furthermore, chefs in a restaurant also follows just a set of menu. asking them to come up with new dishes everyday may even pose as a challenge to some! 

little things. cooking for the family is one of them from my mum. a mere sentence from me "i feel like eating ........" and there i will see it on the table served few days later. my mum is better at expressing her love to me rather than my dad. he is a very traditional man the way he expresses his love is buying me breakfast on my off day, urging me to shower when I'm lazy af, helping me to kill my worst (insect) enemy even when he is so lazy, calling me near midnight to know where I am, keeping food for me as he knows i will be hungry after my afternoon shift, fetching me to and fro work in the weekends, buying me things that i want when he can afford to, and even fetching me to places when i am in a rush despite a grumble - it was a very good parking spot that he found and wanted his car parked there for the night. 

no words can explain how thankful i am to them. the urge to say "i love you" and "i am thankful to have you as my parents" are harder than anything else. asian problems definitely.