in previous 2 years, mum, bee and i would have our reunion dinner at home. but this year, mum and i had a reunion dinner with my second sis's family on the eve of the eve of the lunar new year, and again on the eve of the lunar new year with my brother's family. at the first glance superficially (especially if you are not chinese), it sound kinda defeating to call it a reunion dinner when there were 2 dinners. and this is not considering the fact that i am not having any reunion dinner myself (which again sounds kinda illogical cos as an unmarried person, who do i have reunion dinners with? haha...). after all, reunion dinners are for family units to come together. it boils down to how we define the family unit.
for the first reunion dinner was my sis's family reunion dinner. the family unit to be referred to was my brother-in-law's family and not ours (my family as defined by my dad's family) per se. we were just joining in the dinner. and although she also invited bee along, i thought it was not a good idea given mum's mental state. nonetheless, it was a good dinner although not all of her family was there. internal inter-sibling squabbles again, my sis lamented. as for me, i took it in stride. we went through the same when we were younger i told my sis. so... we had a little scare during the dinner. mum choked on the prawns. thankfully, she had chewed the prawn sufficiently and it went in after a while. she stopped the dinner while we carried on. but the amount of food was really too much. the food prepared was for 10, but there were only 6-7 of us. so in the end, we had all the remainder packed.
as for the second dinner, it was my brother's family unit. and similarly we just joined in. but of cos, if we were to see it from a chinese male-centric point of view, the reunion dinner at my brother's place could be considered more significant. and as for mum and i, we were to be considered important guests for the dinner. my mum would naturally be seen as an elder (a traditional chinese family is, surprisingly, rather matriarchal in nature in my opinion). and as for me, i would naturally assume the role of my dad following my dad's demise. and while all these were not uttered, the silent respect my brother accord to me during major festivals and prayers such as the lunar new year and the birthday of the celestial gods was obvious. this was kinda interesting cos he has a history of arguing and fighting with me. and during the fights, it could be rather intense and hostile. then again... whatever the case, just enjoy the time as it occurs la, i told myself. when my mum passes on in the near future, nobody will know what will happen. for all you know, we may end up the way like how my eldest sis is treating me now. haha... let time be the judge.
but for now, let's just focus on the fact that it is the lunar new year period, and familial ties are looked upon with a little more significance. after all, that is what lunar new new is about these days, getting back of the family unit. it was a good 2 days of reunion dinners. think i need to increase my running and exercising again after all the eating!
:-)
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