An Anniversary

July 03, 2023

An Anniversary

A sunlight sprinkled crisp wintry morning warmly welcomed our 21st anniversary. With the buoyancy of children in playground, we headed for the nearby park for customary anniversary clicks in new clothes. This was supposed to be followed by a sumptuous lunch, a visit to the lovely Lavender Bay, and a quiet family dinner. But the crescendo ended in a decent-scaled disaster even before the plan could spread the wings for a flight.

It happened at the wink of an eye. Three of us, twining in wine-wheat attires, were heading sprightly towards the station and chatting about another round of photo-shoot. But before capturing the mood, events unfolded quickly, bringing us to a halt unceremoniously. We were crossing the road by the station when my son's foot abruptly got in my way; I tripped, fell hard on the road, and skid on the asphalt. That inflicted several injuries and deep weals to elbows, knees, right hand, wrist, chin, and forehead. Yet, as I slipped into unconsciousness twice and resurfaced, I appreciated how fortunate I was to suffer smaller wounds. It could have been far more catastrophic. The way my lisle tights were torn and spects, phone, purse, coat, travel card were scattered all over the place, it was nothing short of miracle that most part of my face, arms, and legs were unscathed. Carrying a water bottle couldn't have been more helpful at times like these. My spouse and son splashed a copious amount of the water to bring me back to senses and walk me home.

Thus the special day didn't end up quite as planned. When I hit the sack at night, hot-patch tucked under my neck and painkillers working towards alleviating the sprains and wounds, I paused and thought - accidents such as these, unbeknownst to us, could happen anytime to anybody. As one anniversary rolls into another, so does our age. While it's best to commemorate these events, make them memorable, colourful, eventful, it also harks to us to pay more attention on our movements, be cautious of our steps to avoid such falls, keep a safe distance from our children - they could be quite awkward in their gait at their age when we hit 20th anniversary milestone. Like every boil, gash, paper-cut, knife-cut teaches us a lesson, this was my takeaway from this most recent one.

Two days down the line, I'm feeling much better. Brown scabs on skin have replaced the bloody open cuts, pains have subdued considerably, and I've visited the local clinic for a general check-up. Doctor has prescribed plenty of rest, certified the abrasions will heal in about two weeks, and confirmed no bone has broken. The welt on the chin is definitely keeping me away from "chinwagging" while in convalescence. But I'm enjoying quietly the attention of my son and spouse, appeciating the help extended by close relatives, and acknowledging the concerns of my friends - this definitely adds a new flavor to the mood board of anniversaries observed thus far!

The anniversary mood board in reverse chronology since inception: