We all started laughing. Bellows of heartfelt guffaw could be heard all around. Poor Tim; he felt throughly embarrassed but there was no one siding him today- our head prefect who had such a loyal following suddenly found himself the butt of all jokes. We laughed- heartily. We merrily guffawed with so much gusto that tears began to stream uncontrollably down our swollen cheeks. We yawped so loud that when Tim tried to stand up, he fell back in fright. That was a Kodak moment; poor, defenseless Tim. I am sure that he would get over it and tomorrow would see things return to normal but today, the victor had turned victim.
Whenever I see my friends with their parents it saddens me. Imagine sharing a meal or a laugh with my family can only exist in my imagination; my parents got divorced when I was just twelve. The news came as a shock to my brother and I when we were having dinner. Everyone in the room fell silent, my parents were anxiously waiting for our response. Breaking the silence, my brother stood up abruptly from his seat which grated against the cold hard marble floor and made a beeline to his room. My heart was broken like a chandelier that had fallen from the lofty heights of the ceiling. The words escaped the tip of my tongue, “I… I don’t understand..” Rivulets of tears streamed down my cheeks as I waited for an answer. From that day onwards, my life was never the same.
In the weeks following after that dreadful day, father’s belongings became lesser and lesser until there was no more. It felt as if his presence in the household was just a mere memory, a part of me felt empty. My mother told my brother and I why they had gotten a divorce, however that young and innocent me still could not comprehend the situation. I was bereft. I would sit staring at a book without turning the page for an hour, I would eat what was put in front of me and I would smile when my brother made a joke but, I would not cry. It felt as if my father had abandoned me.
Eventually, I got better. My relationship with my father improved as he brought me out for dinners and movies once every week. It was difficult at first; mostly awkward but we managed to pull through and now, I will regale to him the events and happenings to me in school and will invite him over to the various school ceremonies. However, seeing with my friends with both of their parents at ceremonies were heartbreaking. Some of them complain that it is very embarrassing for their parents to be there but I reckon they had no idea how lucky they were to have them both.
As fervently as my brother and I had wish our circumstances were different, we were changed the moment those words left my parents’ mouths. We may look the same, the change was not visible but we were changed completely, forever. Change is something normal, something people all over the world experience. I used to cling on what things were instead of letting them be what they are, I used to cling onto old memories instead of making new ones. Change is constant. How we experience change is up to us. It can feel like death or it can feel like a second chance in life.
Up till now even though I come from a background where my parents are divorced, I still believe in love and marriage. I am not someone who will just break down and feel that it is futile hope to have a future. I believe what my parents had for the last nineteen years together were special and meaningful, and that is why I know that that event had shaped and strengthened me more when it comes to the topic of love and marriage. I will not allow my children to grow up without a father like I did and I will show them what it means to have a happy family.
Holding on to the mic, my palms were sweating. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears; it was deafening. I was going up in less then a minute and the contestant before me was amazing; I felt dubious of myself and I believed I would not live up to my expectations, more so to my father’s expectations.
Being a single dad was tough on him; he had difficulty in the areas where he had to teach me how to be a lady and talk to me about the inevitable “boy problems”. The only area where he felt comfortable teaching me was singing; he is my vocal teacher. He was a musician in the early eighties and started teaching music at the National University of Singapore two decades ago. Therefore, I was really anxious but at the same time excited to go up on stage to do something I love.
Up there on stage, I was blown away by the lights, cameras and the number of people who turned up for the auditions. It was baffling; it was so much more then I had anticipated from watching the British television series, “X Factor” on television. After introducing myself to the judges I patiently waited for the music to play so as to start singing. I was nervous singing in front of the biggest people in the music industry- there were ancient butterflies in my stomach! However, when the music started playing I felt more calm and collected, and so I began to sing.
The song I was singing had a lot of emotion to it and I believed I expressed it well. At that moment, it felt so peaceful. Time seemed to stand still as I brought forward what my father had taught me over the years during my singing lessons. I strongly believed I hit all my high notes well and this was supported by the judges at the end when they told me that they loved it and I was fantastic and did a really great job auditioning. In the end I was put through the next round of the competition and I was ecstatic; I was over the moon and was jumping up and down on stage. Rivulets of tears streaked down the contours of my face with my hand over my mouth as I could not believe what had just happened.
Back stage, my father was weeping copiously. When we saw each other, there was this moment of pure joy as he opened his arms for me to embrace. A wave of sublime happiness swelled up around us as we realised that our hard work and passion for music came through and I could tell he was really proud of me. He had this tinge of mirthful smile plastered on his face when he took a good, long look at me as he firmly gripped my shoulders. I could tell it was the epitome of his career as a music teacher and more importantly, a father. (501 words)
