Old Age

What would you do when you're old? Retire from work and enjoy life the way you wanted?

For those singles, they may buy a house of their own, own a pet (usually a dog cause it's a man's best friend), going out with other like-minded singles and travel around the world.

For those who are married, they will of course buy a house, have kids, work hard to support the family and save for old age then live life the way they wanted.

The above are sort of a "SOP (Standard Operation Procedure)" of life in Singapore. However, in reality, this is not always the case.

Recently, I brought my grandma to see a doctor because of cough which resulted in vomiting. There was no one to attend to her and therefore, I was asked to help her to the clinic by my aunt who was unable to get away from work.

Actually, I am not very close to my grandma because I was not brought up by her or taken care of by her and therefore, I do not feel the 'closeness' with her. Initially the feeling was a bit weird but it gradually became OK.

Grandma has 4 daughters and 4 sons. All of them have their own family except for her youngest daughter who has been taking care of her for many years. My youngest aunt is in her early thirties and she does not have a boyfriend, not to mention about marriage. I dont know why she hadnt thought of marriage but perhaps one of the reasons could be a heavy responsibility to take care of grandma. Out of so many children that grandma has, my youngest aunt is the only one who takes care of her. Not to mention the daughters, the sons are actually quite useless. Even though they have their own families, it is also part of their responsibility to visit grandma whenever they can. But that is of course not the case.

Sometimes I feel that she is quite pitiful because from what I see, her husband (grandpa) does not live with her as he's living with the second wife...

Most of the time, she is alone.

So what's the point of getting married and having to "share" your husband with another woman? What's the point of having more children and most of them dont really care when you're old? Perhaps it's destiny.

We should treat our parents with respect and sometimes take time to listen to what they have to say. Because one day, we will grow old too.