Was clearing old magazines from the billy book case in the living room, and saw some interesting books which i’ve read – but i’ve forgotten all about the stories.

Re-reading this gem.

Key points ( might be extrapolated and part of my reflections at this point ) :

• On hindsight, everything is clearer; only if you choose to be objective. Sadly, even on hindsight, we don’t remember the whys and whens, but we do remember the whats and hows. And it can be totally biased. They say hindsight vision is 20/20; if you look at it from your pair of eyes, it will be 20/20; in your opinion.
• If we dig far enough, we will remember the whys and whens.
• Everyone has regrets; it’s how we deal with them that matters.
• We need to act properly at present, so that we will not regret about the ‘past’ in the future. Every action has consequences; therefore we should think through before committing an action.
• I really love the “Times when i didn’t stand up for my mother” and “Times when i did stand up for my mother”. It makes me feel shameful, and I vow to be more politically correct and empathise more with my mother and my mother-in-law
• Each family is living with ghosts; persons who hurt us, persons who died but they still eat with us, sleep with us, and they affect each of our actions. We can all be better ghosts.
• We do certain things – to protect the ghosts. I played Starcraft with Keen Way, and Counter-Strike with Deon. I am no longer as close as I wish to be. Everytime i play, i am with them.

4th April 2017 – i finished reading the book. Great reminder.

• Children shouldn’t need to choose between mother or father. There’s no such thing as Mama’s boy or daddy’s boy. Don’t let them choose.
• Be there, and create memories. They will remember it.
• We’re writing ghost stories now. Stories which will be told to our grand children, great grand children.
• We need to be mindful of what we do daily, because every action has consequences.
• Don’t give up. That’s the moral of the story. EVERYTHING can be worked out. I mean everything. All past mistakes can be forgiven.
• most importantly, forgive yourself.
• the story was told from Chick’s daughter’s perspective. And she’s naming her son, after the grandfather. I feel my dad has everything we can model after, and therefore, Samuel’s name is after his grandfather.