Post Cristmas Blues

This morning I arrived back in Jakarta after spending 2 days in a small town of Magelang, Central Java. The sky was dark. Drops of rain were falling with constant speed accompanied by the cool breeze of the rainy season. It's christmas weather alright, and I'm still stuck in holiday mode.

Christmas is an annual tradition for my family, both from my mother and father's side. It becomes more important than ever this year since my grandmas are getting older and they become less and less social; the presence of their children and their children's children (... even if we don't really talk) is already a joy to them.

This Christmas, my two aunties are grandmothers themselves, and another auntie is expecting to be a grandmother in a few months. I watch as a new generation of my family is unfolding, the older one is retreating slowly. There are more reminiscing of the days when the children were young; sometimes memories get jumbled up and their comments turn silly. We laughed at them when events suddenly took a wrong chronological order and conversations almost always ended up in the latest trend in health supplements. We make fun of them being older.

My dad is the youngest in his family, and the possibility of him turning a grandfather is still miles away. Being a grandparent is like a milestone of old age. As I observed my aunties and uncles and how they are now that they're retired, I can't help imagining what my parents will be like when they reach that stage. I think being older is cool,.. when you're 30-40-50-60 but once you get to 60, I begin to think that it's not so cool anymore. And I can't help thinking of how my parents would feel 10 years down the road.