Staying At Home

Today was our 4th day staying at home after government implemented the Circuit Breaker. My seven-year old girl and me were making clay doll necklaces when out of the blue, she suddenly asked, "Ma, will this moment become my past when I grow up few years later?"

I was stunned for a while when I heard her question. I told her, "yes, this will be your memory when you grow up later."

She continued asking, "how was it when you were a child, Ma? Was there a handphone?"

I looked at those curious eyes and asked, "do you want me to tell the story of my childhood?"

She smiled and nodded her head immediately. "Yes, please."

"Ok, when I was your age, the only phone we had was a telephone. It was a big one with numbers for you to dial by rotating the wheel clockwise, number by number. The phone could only be used to call people. You could not use the phone to send messages, take pictures, browse the internet, listen to music, watch videos or any other things that you can do today with the handphone."

She looked surprised and asked me again, "so when was the handphone invented?"

"Hmm, handphones were available for public in  mid 90s. I had my first handphone when I was in college. It was Nokia 5110, a very popular type back then. Most of my friends used the same model, too."

Showing Motorola Razr to Linda. It was my last handphone before I switched to BlackBerry. 

She listened enthusiastically when I told her what I did during my spare time as a kid. Unlike kids these days, we did not have many electronic devices to entertain us. My father just had a video player and sometimes we watched classic movies such as the Sound of Music and Mowgli. The other activities were playing hopscotch and cooking in our garden, cycling, monopoly, etc.

As I told her my childhood memories, I was reminded that we should be grateful the technology now had become much more advanced than 30 or 40 years ago. Even though we had to stay at home all the time during the Circuit Breaker period, we could contact our friends and family via video calls. We could look at them and listen to their voices even though we were separated miles away. Thanks to technology, the kids could also study at home, learning new skill and updating their knowledge. We could even exercise at home thanks to all the free online classes we could find on YouTube. For those who like to cook or bake, they could explore many recipes and cooking classes that were also available online.

Having said that, instead of looking at our limitation during this difficult time, we could choose to look at the other side of the coin. We had time to expand our knowledge and skill, build a better relationship with our spouse and kids, as well as spending more time to get closer to our God. Most of the time we were too busy with our activities. Perhaps it was time to slow down and listen to His gentle voice. We definitely could overcome this situation together. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!