Hello. Hello. Hello.
The last two months have been absolutely brutal for me. In between finding time to hang out with the kids, celebrate Christmas and New Years, and billing over 300 hours each month, you can see why this blog has become a dead space, as I fought to even find time to eat and sleep, much less take care of errands or running a household, much less blog!
But I'm not too late to the Chinese lunar new year, which has just passed us in a lovely whirlwind of a couple of days! We got a little orange tree to celebrate, lots of window stickers full of Chinese new year sayings, and I introduced the kids to turnip cake (white radish cake with bacon and dried shrimp, sliced and fried and eaten at dim sum or at new year). It was a pretty unequivocal fail. They hated it. As with my attempt with fish congee - they all ended up eating cereal. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
While Hong Kong is largely shuttered as we deal with the fifth wave (omg), I can't help but still feel an irrepresible sense of excitement that we're heading into a new lunar year. It's the year of the water tiger! There are so many traditions with the Chinese New Year and it is such a festive and important holiday, it's hard not to get excited teaching the kids about it and getting into the spirit! Most notably I love how the kids get to partake in the tradition of wearing traditional Chinese outfits, learning all the traditional Chinese new year greetings and, from a kids' perspective anyway, mastering the etiquette of giving and receiving red packets of money! How thrilling and exciting, and that joy of receiving cold hard cash probably doesn't get old... ever. I don't think the boys fully understand what the money is for, but they know to get excited nonetheless (and possessive as well, haha). Lola has already been stockpiling her red envelopes and chocolates in her bedroom, and telling me to save it for her so she can buy Barbies. Alas.
I have so much catching up to do, including an amazing post about the boys turning two and an epic birthday party, as well as all these half-written or dreamt up posts of me whinging about being middle aged and where has the time gone and what are Michael and I doing, but for now, here are some posts focused on the present.
I am in a really happy place with the kids. They are my pride and joy and just such an utter delight.
I have three rambunctious, adorable, ridiculous, crazy, hot-tempered, sensitive, moody, grumpy, intelligent, silly kids who are so much fun to be around. They have gotten closer recently and really respond well to each other (for the most part). In all of my spare time and free moments I am pretty much trying my best to cuddle, hold and kiss them and squeeze in as much time as possible with them. Now that the boys are two and walking, talking, running and full of ideas and opinions, and we have survived the grueling baby stage, I am awash in loss at how quickly, how fleeting, how utterly in-the-blink-of-an-eye these kids are going to grow up. It's all happening in double time with Al and Teo and like everything else with twins I just wish there was a way to slow it all down or make it less intense!
Life is, despite stress from work and parenting, despite stress from too many things and too little time, or too much expectation and not enough enjoyment, despite family being far away and quarantine restrictions in Hong Kong, and despite all the negative you can think up in this day and age - life is, really, utterly, good. I am happy with where we live, the household support we have, our good, kind and generous friendships both old and newly developed, and our health.
I felt such a bone deep sense of satisfaction and contentment sitting in the back of an Uber crammed with three kids around and on me, in a warm shaft of sunlight stopped at a traffic light on our way back from a fun morning hanging out at the club, after a nice lunch on a beautiful weekday during this public holiday. I clutched them tight and smelled their delicious heads and stroked their silken cheeks and rubbed their warm dimpled hands and just felt so much happiness, you guys. The relief and contentment was also perhaps never so directly contrasted with the hellish weeks of back-to-back work before this week, with closings and signings and just really difficult deals and all the exquisite torture that private practice entails. I'm not usually this well balanced on my perspective in life. But the past couple of weeks has helped me embrace these couple of quieter days with immense relish and gratitude!
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