ester

met a secondary school teacher, my prefect mistress, today and it was really so nice to just catch up and hang out again. she was one who has always been there, and given me support in the most practical of ways - be it staying back with me to do practices for amath and emath, planning events with us, vetting of proposals, or just even being a listening ear for the things that are going on in my life. though we haven't met in a while, it felt nice to talk to her again. she brought her niece, ester! and i remember the last time i played with her was when i was in sec 4 and she was just 5 years old then. she's 8 now. and so adorable. she was really shy and quiet at first, but she slowly opened up and started talking at random intervals about random facts, like her playing with her frozen toys in hokkaido and sticking them in the snow, staying in a haunted looking hotel in perth, having fox earrings that were half white and half brown. she was just so joyful, and brought so much joy to me as well :) my teachers' car has a lot of polar bear soft toys, ester made me play 'pretend' with her. she said that i needed to be the big polar bear, and she would be the small polar bear, and they were neighbours and the big polar bear was going to the small polar bear's house to play. i played along, and she laughed a lot. 

i was just reminded of the simplicity of childhood, and how these little things can bring great joy to an 8-year-old. and perhaps we should try to take greater joy in the simple pleasures of life!

"happiness comes in little packages." thank you my little bundle of joy, for adding some laughter and gladness to my day :)