emptying the drawer...

sifting through my stuff brings back a tonne of memories. good and bad, happy and sad.

gifts from friends, like the metal bookmark chung got us and the pair of looney tunes name socks from brother mike.

gifts meant for friends... keychains that i got for friends on holiday and expedition but never got the chance or forgot to pass to them.

trinkets from past relationships...

stuff that the two sisters got me, like the eagle keychain sam got me when she went to the zoo with dad all those years ago.

stuff that i bought, like my battletech cards, airplane pins and my turtle keychains.

my badges from sji and cj, including my legion and ncc collar pins as well as the whole host of ncc badges, back in the day when each tiny badge meant more than a pound of gold. even the flower we got when stepped down from council, accompanied with my two badges.

my first rosary, which is plastic and glows in the dark which i got when i was what... primary three? when i was still at holy fam, during the really good days.

and of course, that silver medal. the one we got when 4a3 came in second for inter-class games in 2000. miss ong was so proud of us, cos someone told her that even though we were just second, we behaved and celebrated like we were first. really, really good days.

and this card that mr ang gave me... God bless the man.

SMILING THROUGH THE TEARS

It is easy enough to be pleasant
When life flows by like a song.
But the man worthwhile
is the one who will smile
when everything goes dead wrong,
For the test of the heart is trouble.
And it always comes with the years.
But the smile that is worth
The praises on earth
Is the smile that shines through tears

just walking, walking down memory lane.