2008 has been a tumultous year - for both the world and me.
It's had its fair share of ups and downs, with the glamourous Beijing Olympics, Obama's election as the new incoming President of United States of America and not to mention the collapse of Lehman Brothers and AIA.
But this is not what I want to share with you today.
Let me share with you my life in 2008.
I first received my A' level results in end February.
As I stepped into my junior college once more, images flashed through my mind as if it had just happened yesterday. The memories came too close. The jokes my friends shared, the embarrassing moments that we all laughed over together, the times when I sprained my ankle and was forced to sit at the back of the dance studio, the times when I had to climb over the school fence to get out at 10p.m. after my dance training and of course, not to forget the times when I had to face the red ink that almost burried my wordings on the test paper.
Now is the time, I thought as I stood in my school hall, waiting for my teacher to give me a smile when she handed me my A' level results. But no, she looked cautious and said I did well. The truth is, I did not.
It was only that night that reality dawned on me. I cannot believe that my fate all lied in that sheet of fragile paper I brought home - that paper which printed my grades in a-matter-of-fact manner, and forced me to start pondering over where my life would end.
No, my fate lies in my own hands. I may have done badly in my A's, but my future is for me to carve.
As I looked back now, I remember the months of waiting for a letter of reply from the local universities with anxiety, the months when I was working as a Marketing Assistant which taught me the ropes of the industry, the day I started school and the day I got my results.
Then there were those times when I poured over the statistics to see who was leading the US elections, the pain over the loss of Singaporean lawyer Loh Hwei Yen who died in the Mumbai attack, the times where disaster after disaster graced the headlines of the newspaper.
And the countdown on Christmas eve, the experiences I had as a writer for online publications.
A fruitful year. And definitely one that was marked by a lot of hardship and laughter.
I will never regret the path that led me to where I am today.
Someone asked me, "What was the best thing that happened to you in 2008?". I didn't know how to reply.
Now I know:
Being able to wake up every morning to see the dawn break is the best gift that God could ever give.
Posts
