Blood and water

I really only began to cherish the times spent with my family when my cousin passed away several years back. Before she passed away, my paternal family really only met literally a couple of times each year. Once during Chinese New Year and once during Christmas. Occasionally we'll meet for Mother's day or my granny's birthday but that's considered to be a rarity. We usually only met when we had to celebrate an occasion. Otherwise we kept out of each other's lives as much as we could. My cousin and I were of the same age. We should've been a lot closer than we really were. We went to same primary and secondary school. We were even in the same class a couple of times. Heck, our dads are identical twins for crying out loud!

Instead, our friends were our real life and the phrase "blood runs thicker than water" didn't apply to my family at all. Meeting the family was an obligation, a chore, something that had to be done at least twice a year. However, when Jaslyn passed away a couple years back, I noticed my family drawing closer. We started meeting more frequently for dinners that celebrated no occasion at all and our parties ate later into the night. My dad who had initially refused to pay for my degree finally relented and agreed to pay half. My granny started peppering her existing grandchildren with gifts aplenty. See that kebaya up there? That's the sixth one she's given me. My uncle and aunt told me that if anything should happen to them, they hope that I'll bring Victoria (my little cousin) up as my own. That's a huge honour. I can't believe they chose me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that tragedy has a funny way of bringing people together. The way I see it, it can go two ways. It can either drive families apart or bring them closer together than they've ever been before. I'm just glad it's the latter.