Once again, it is that time of the year.

This year, I am in Singapore. It is a rainy day, not the heavy rain coupled with lightning and thunder, but a quiet, lingering rain that reminds me of a lawn sprinkler steadfastly watering the green pasture.
I am thankful because this year is the best one yet, in every delightful way.

Counting my blessings, and be grateful
of the special people that love and care
of the others that have enriched this life, by just being there
of the memories that make life tastes so special and unforgettable
of the experiences, big or small, that make me the person I am today.

Perhaps God's line is always busy,
but surely, a birthday girl gets a special treatment yes?

please watch over me;
when I run too fast to get through the day,
please extend your leg to trip me;
when it's ugly down here on earth,
please send me blue skies and starry nights;
when I lose my way,
please send me an angel to guide me home.

I was stunned when I found this photograph in facebook. How nice it is to look at a long lost photograph taken 18 years ago. My memory has failed me, I cannot remember a single thing about my life back then. I cannot recognize my old friends from that era when we added each other in facebook. Nevertheless, the photograph never grows old. I see it as I remember it to be. A photograph can be kind, sparking a glimmer of light in a chapter of life that has been lost in time.

It was mid afternoon 1990. The sun was glaring, the kids couldn't keep their eyes open wide for the camera. It was their first year wearing that white-red uniform. Their teacher was a sweet, young lady (who is at that time, probably around my age now), Ibu Ratna. Their class was on the first floor of the school building, just beside the canteen. In fact, their class is the background in the photograph.

I wonder, where are they now? What kind of person have they become?
Long after our time has gone, I say a little prayer, for each and every single soul in the photograph, that they become the kind of people that those little kids wanted to be.