18th entry - A Happy Weekend

I had a most enjoyable weekend with my sweetheart, S, and one of my dearest friends, KC. On Saturday, I went to S's place in the afternoon. In the privacy of S's room, we hugged and kissed, and chatted for while.

After resting briefly, we went to buy a mattress. We walked to the furniture shop near S's place and selected a new mattress that met our needs. The shop owner gave us a good discount, so we happily ordered the mattress and went home.

Back home, we spent some time together. I helped S to do some work, and felt really glad I could help. Just then, we heard knocking, and realised that the mattress had been delivered. We then began our challenging task of moving a bed frame from another room over to S's room. The previous owner of the Queen bed frame didnt want the piece of relatively new furniture (which was still in good condition), so S decided to "upgrade" the old Super-Single bed that we had been using by agreeing to take over the Queen bed to give ourselves more comfort.

Moving the bed was only one of the tasks involved in the whole process. We had to clean the bed, remove the old one from S's room, clean out the dust from the floor on which the old bed stood, shift the new bed into the room and re-arrange the rest of the furniture. It was quite a labour-intensive process, but doing it together as a couple made it quite fun and enjoyable. We decided to lay 2 of S's old bed sheets between the mattress and the bed frame, but these needed to be washed first.

While waiting for the laundry to be done, we went for dinner and shopping for new sheets at a nearby shopping centre. Although the place was crowded with weekend shoppers, we didnt mind jostling with them for space as we were looking forward to sleep on our new bed. When we got back, the sheets had already tumble-dried and were ready to be used. Not wanting to dirty the new bed and sheets, we went to shower together (and our foreplay started there...). After our shower, the new bed was prepared - and within 30 minutes, we were frolicking naked on our new bed... S and I made tender love that night, and fell into a satisfying sleep until the next morning.

On Sunday, we woke up feeling fully rested. I watched as S washed up - it was the first time I could do that at S's place as it wasnt convenient previously, and I was mesmerised by S's methodical movements as the washing ritual was enacted in front of me. Then I took a shower and we went out to a nearby coffee-shop for breakfast. S then walked me to the train station and I went on my way to church. I couldnt bear to part with S, but for now there was no other way. I comforted myself that there might be another opportunity to meet S later in the day (even though it turned out that there wasnt, unfortunately).

The church service was great. We had a good speaker who talked about Death (in line with the Easter holiday approaching on 14th Apr) - and the takeaways from his sermon were: (1) unless we "die" to our old selves, we cannot truly live in our new, victorious lives in Christ; (2) death can come suddenly and unexpectedly, and when it does, we will experience loss and pain; (3) we should learn to let go of the things and people we love after they were gone; (4) we should cherish our lives and try to live it to the fullest by doing something we really want to do or think we should be doing; and (5) we should try to make a difference in someone else's life. I also got a chance to talk to some familiar friends and some newcomers.

After the service, I met up with KC to go for coffee and dessert in Chinatown. KC then drove us to East Coast Park for our first outdoor watercolor painting session, which we had planned to do last week but couldnt carry it out due to the bad weather. Fortunately for us, there was fabulous weather on Sunday - it was neither too sunny nor cloudy - and we managed to pick a good spot for our outdoor exercise. After about an hour and a half, we completed our work. It was really not easy: in addition to strong wind, which speeded up the drying process and compelled us to work faster, there were distractions around us to contend with, such as curious bystanders and minor accidents like knocking over our brush containers.

In spite of the problems KC and I encountered, I was quite contented with my work (see picture above). KC was disappointed with hers, but in the end we both agreed that we would try to do this again. We went for a snack at MacDonald's before KC gave me a lift home. In the evening, I had the privilege of eating my Dad's home-cooked food and sharing my first painting experience with my parents. They liked my work, and encouraged me to go for more sessions. My parents didnt always support my interests, so I was quite thrilled when they did this time.

This was truly a happy weekend for me. It was one of those rare occasions in life where I experienced the immense joy of having it all - being in love with a sweet partner, being loved by God and having a church I could feel at home in, having a wonderful friend who shared an enjoyable new hobby, and experiencing my parents' love and support. I thank God for all these blessings, but I cant help wonder whether, like a roller-coaster, I reached the point when the train goes up, and the next moment everything will suddenly crash down ... Anyway, que sera, sera (what will be, will be).