how time flies

I was about to go off to bed last night when I saw my cousin, ML, came online on MSN. I remembered she had her first presentation recently and decided to ask her how it went. Instead, her dad answered saying that she had already gone diving and won't be back till Sunday. So I chat a little with her dad and the next thing I know, her lil brother, TA, came on. Then he asks me how come both he and his sis MSN can be online at the same time on the same PC. My first reaction - did I read it right or did he mistype something? He's 13!!! He's my lil cute cousin! He has an MSN account??? I asked him to make sure we're on the same page and guess what..he added me!! He even has a photo uploaded for his display picture and a little personal message below his nick! I just can't imagine that!! When I was 13, I just started learning how to use e-mail and barely know how to connect to mIRC what more using all these fancy messengers. Gosh..the kids these days are definitely catching up with the technology.

Later, when I was lying on the bed, I actually felt kinda sad. Everytime I think about TA, I think about cute lil boy that I can carry around, curly hair that I mess around, the one cousin who can't wait to be taller than me (I'm the shortest among all cousins) and the one who still plays Hot Wheels cars. But he's grown up a whole lot since then. Before I left for the States, he told me that the next time I go home, he'll be taller than me. Ever since then, everytime I go home, the difference between his height and me seems to increase and he loves teasing me about it..arghghgh!!! Now, he's the one who does the teasing to drive me nuts instead of me teasing him about how he keeps changing his ambitions since he was a kid. Of course, I can also no longer carry him around and ruffling his hair is gonna be rewarded with a glare from him.

In fact, this is the one thing I miss most being so far away from home - being part of the family. Of course I'm still part of the family but when we're not literally there, we just miss the little details. In this case, I totally miss the growing up of TA and even my own lil brother. We never really did got along well with each other when I was back home but we have our moments too. Internal jokes that no one else would get and of course, he has kept some of secrets for me too. Now he's all independent and living his own life. I do get updates from my parents about what everyone is up to or what they've done recently but the feeling is completely different when being there myself. Sometimes it makes me feel left out whenever I'm back but hey, that's life right? We can't have everything at the same time. At least I know I'm still thought of enough that they'll ask me mum every once in a while when I'm going home or how am I doing here. And most of all, I'm greatful that whenever I'm home, they treat me just the way they used to, they remember my favorite food and places to go and they take the time to spend it with me.

But I know I'll always miss the times I'm apart from them because they are the best family I've ever had. I know lots of people are not very close to their relatives and only meet once a year. I'm thankful to be part of a family who is very close and whenever there's a gathering, it's always a happy event. Even when we don't see each other often, it's easy to get along.