Boxes, not Pandora's

Boxes in all sizes.

Small. big. medium. in-between.

Lined atop each other

face-down, bottom-up

side-by-side.

Can't remember anytime when it wasn't like this;

Can remember every time it has been their turn to be boxed and lined up. 

'Packers have arrived' tralalalala

the song paired with the screech of scotch taping,

the thud of the cardboard boxes on the bare flooring,

the fine dust that puffs up with every haul and manoeuvre.

The laughter, the banter, the whimsical whistling of the packer-boys bent-on filling them up, 

box by box, space by space, room by room.

Rounding off the days, four days in row

till the boxes 'carrying pieces of our life' are ready to board,

to be driven away boarded up, on wheels 

to travel homewards in the waters

to sail away and touch the shores at the other end,

much later than we touch home ourselves.

Like two-parts-of-the same traveling home on different time-capsules!

And maybe, just maybe

so that we are home to welcome back : the boxes 'carrying pieces of our life',

made up of the familiar, of the comforting, of pieces of memory and memoirs.

Each time a box is opened, a piece is revealed 
- a tiny familiar lurch augurs a memory, 

and a vivid inspiration for its nesting place

in the new home! 

(@Cliveden@Grange 10:45 pm Day1 of Packing)

Pausing, ever so gently

fresh flowers, fresh bedspread, freshness and anticipation; before flux takes over

Tell me if you ever feel this sense of Pause in the midst of the most ardent state of flux, a sense of weightlessness, a certain lightness in the mind which has allowed the body to relax ever so gently into a warm, glowing kind of stupor, not numbing; rather sharply aware of each sensation, each fleeting thought, each breath that leaves and flutters the edge of the lips - an acute awareness, a state of being!?

I managed to get into that Pause today in the midst of a colossally busy day - sending my son off to School on the last day of the year though only after a joyous reminiscing through his years there, his first day forebodings and many such tender memories; a jog in the sun;  two meetings with Clients in different phases of their journey with me; a moment to notice and fish-out the camera to capture the silence that rested in the different corners of my home this morning; readying the house before the arrival of our last visitors - our dear friends.  And yet I look at the clock and find time to bring these thoughts to paper.

Yes, our visitors are about to arrive and be with us before we say goodbye to this country, once again. This Country which effortlessly took us in— second time over— made us fall into its easy rhythm and of course, managed to get the tear glands active as we approach departure. 

So it is only fair to say to you : THANK YOU Singapore - you are that special home where every-time we get a little bit closer to ourselves, we travel inwards into the authentic a little bit more and find that special place inside of us that we missed noticing so far and thence, marvel at Life  !

(Images copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.blogspot.com)