June Outing with Family

Last week, on Monday, my mother decided to bring my siblings and I on an outing with my grandmother and aunt to Orchard Road. I knew they were going shopping for clothes and such, which was really boring, but since I had nothing better to do, and had already spent two weeks of the holidays indoors, I went along with her.

In the morning, after breakfast, we set off to the bus interchange near my house, where we had agreed to meet. We could only take one bus, which was 173, to the interchange. Unfortunately, it was the bus that was very irregular. That day happened to be one of the days when it decided not to come for 30 mins. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it gave my siblings, my mother and myself time to interact with each other, which was rare as we were normally all busy with our own things.

The bus came at last and within a quarter of an hour, we reached the interchange and met up with my grandma and aunt. We haven't seen each other for quite a while and so we spent the time on the MRT catching up with each other and planning for the rest of the day. It was only then when I realised that I have not had much quality time with my grandmother, as well as my aunt, for a few months, not since my grandfather's funeral.

We made a detour to Plaza Singapura first as my grandmother wanted to consult the Chinese physician there. It was a new experience for me as I had never consulted one before and it was interesting to see how a Chinese physician worked. I observed my grandmother consulting the physician. It was amazing how much the physician could find out just by checking my grandmother's pulse, tongue, skin color, etc.

Next, we met up with my uncle and went to Takashimaya for lunch at Food Republic. There, we had more opportunity for quality time as the queues were very long and my uncle had to queue up for quite some time. I found out that my grandmother had been quite lonely since my grandfather passed away some months ago. I felt sorry for her and decided to talk to her more in the future as well as visit her more often. After all, she cared for me when I was younger and now I ought to care for her in her time of need.

After lunch, my uncle left us as he had to go back to work and the rest of us made our way upstairs to Kinokuniya. I was the one who wanted to go there as I had a few vouchers to spend and a few books to buy. Although my grandmother and aunt were not interested in books, they agreed readily as they knew that I loved reading.

Afterwards, we went to Robinsons' to purchase some clothing and ended our journey at the bus interchange back home where we had dinner at a coffee shop. Although parts of the outing was quite boring (such as the shopping for clothes part), I really enjoyed it as it gave me an opportunity to interact with my grandmother and aunt. I feel that it is important for us to have quality time with our family members so we can bond together and develop a closer relationship. And the best way to do that is ......

Go on an outing which caters to everybody's interest, just like this one!