It feels good to have spent the first day of January with my family — a visit to my grandmother — and then we went to Eastwood to have really early dinner at MyThai, sat two hours at Happy Lemon (with our tea, of course) just sharing stories, and then shopping for another two hours. Went home full: my belly was filled with Thai food I’ve been craving for months and some milk tea, my heart was full of appreciation for my family, with a bonus of a shoe-full shopping bag. :)

I love listening to my mom’s stories and this evening she was talking about her friends from high school (since they just met up lately). Her conversations with her friends (their kids getting older, their kids dating, my mom advocating driving lessons, more stories about how they handle their ‘kids’ — who are, really, just me and my brother’s age or older) remind me of my friendship with my own high school friends (Lles, Gail, and Ruby, I’m looking at you guys!). Lately, or at least for the past year, we’d talk mostly about boyfriends or love because we’re at the certain point in our short, meager existence wherein our love-lives have taken center stage. I imagined us older and sharing stories about whatever it was that we’re all preoccupied with in the future.

Listening to my mom talk about her friends reminded me that I’m lucky to have something similar with my friends. It’s comforting to know that there will always be this group of girls who can relate to my problems, who I could discuss love and thoughts and ask advice from. They’re a group of friends I could always go back to even though we don’t see each other regularly. They’re a group of friends I can trust because we’ve never given up on each other after all these years. We’ll all grow older together while sharing moments in our lives with each other. In spite of the possibility that we’d find ourselves “alone” in life — well, we’ll never be. :)

I feel content and happy today. Retail shopping is the cherry on top of a good day (I mean, I’m excessively glad I finally found the perfect black wedges and yellow flats I’ve been searching for, for such a long time now). But what I’m really thankful for is my family which, although imperfect, is a family I’m lucky to have.