Absence makes the heart grow fonder (one-way at least!)

I have just returned from a working trip to Myanmar and will be off to Atlanta tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning.

More than a decade ago, this wouldn't have meant anything. In fact, I was even looking forward to travelling around the Asia Pacific region for work back then. But now, a married man and father of 2 young daughters, I am a changed man. Travelling without my family is not something I would do unless I have no choice. The world out there may beckon, but no thanks, I am happy to be home.

When I was a child, I was told that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I didn't really understand what that meant. I think it's mainly because I haven't been separated from my loved ones for any prolonged period of time. The first real test came when I enlisted for National Service. I was slaving away for about 10 days at Nee Soon Camp before I was allowed to go home on a weekend to be with my family. Weekends never felt so short before or ever since. Then, for 6 months, I was in Tainan, Taiwan as part of my National Service. I was not only away from home, but also in a foreign land where things seem to be on a different wavelength from Singapore. For the first few weeks, my ears were blocked and I couldn't hear well. Back then, I didn't wear a hearing aid, and I felt helpless. Then in a freak accident, I was almost blinded and required stitches to my nose bridge. In my letters to mom, I didn't breathe a single word about the accident, lest she got worried.

Next came my university days at NTU, then know as NTI, where I had no choice but to stay in the hostel as not doing so meant 2 hours of travelling each way. It always felt good to have that last dinner each Sunday before bidding my family farewell for a whole week without them.

Later on in life, I found myself travelling for work. As a young man, fresh in the workforce, business travel was a boon and a privilege. It took me to places as far as San Francisco and Orlando, and those as near as Batam. It was good while it lasted.

Marriage and kids appear to bring me to a full circle. I'm now back to the stage when I would miss my wife and kids when they are not with me. But you know one thing, apart from my wife, and perhaps mom and dad, it always seems to be a one-way thing. I don't find my siblings or even my kids missing me. Even if they do, they didn't show it. As for me, well, absence does make my heart grow fonder for my loved ones.

God bless,
Thomas