Grandma's Night Out

Several years back, my cousin, Suping, and I, took our grandma to Orchard Road to view the Christmas lights, as well as to soak up the festive spirit. This year, my aunt reminded us of the "tradition", and Suping and I decided to carry on with it.

So came last Sunday, Suping, Pete and myself took Grandma out. We started with dinner at Tiong Bahru Market. Back in the good old days when Grandma could still walk with ease, and Grandpa was still around, they would visit my family and me every Saturday, and took me to dinner at Tiong Bahru Market. I thought it would be a good idea for her to see the renovated market, as well as eat some of ther favourite food there. We shared some chee cheong fun, Tau Kua Pok, fried carrot cake, and ice-kachang.

Happy Grandma with food

After dinner, we proceeded on with the car ride to Orchard for Grandma to enjoy the Christmas lights and decor. The last time we took her, she was able to get off the car and walked a little, but this time round, as her legs were too weak, she was only able to enjoy it all from inside the car. When we reached town, we started pointing out the major departmental stores to her. She surprised us all by recollecting the old days when she went to Robinsons, John Little, and Metro. It even put Pete to shame that she knew more about Orchard than he did! ;)

As we reached the Marina area, Grandma became less chatty, and started nodding off. Guess this little outing was a little tiring for her. As we were approaching Grandma's home, she gave us a little shock by throwing up her dinner. Poor Grandma had motion sickness :(

Although it was not that much time spent with Grandma that evening, but I'm sure she was very happy to have us around. She stays alone, and with her weak legs, she is not able to go anywhere without help, and her outings are mostly confined to the doctors' for her regular check-ups. The TV is her only companion at home, and other than family members' occasional visits, she is just facing the four walls at home. I'm sure she feels very lonely most of the time, and will welcome any form of company, especially from family members. I remember fondly of the days when she and Grandpa would take the bus around to eat, to visit us, sometimes to visit their friends. They would always arm themselves with nice snacks and food when visiting us. With that in mind, I really think I should drop by her place more often, especially when Pete stays quite near her.

We should definitely carry on the Christmas "tradition" too, and hopefully my sister would be able to join us next year to make it a complete "grand-daughters" outing.

One for the album