The Next Chapter: I - A Gift from God (1995 - 1998)

“Oh, you were so adorable back then!”.. Something that I hear quite often from my immediate family and close relatives. Honestly, I didn’t even know if they were trying to make me feel more pleased with myself, or if they had no option but to say that. Probably the latter of the two.

“The Next Chapter” will be a series of eight blog posts which will be posted in the next eight days, starting from today, reflecting on the first 18 years of my life. Also, building up to the big 18th birthday (which is just around the corner) on the 12th of January. 

12 January 1995. The date I entered Planet Earth.. 2 months early. Something that my mother kept reminding me, even today, was the pain that she went through prior to my birth. And it wasn’t pleasant. Looking at a photo of myself only hours old (that I prefer not to upload), it instantly gives me several thoughts that are.. indescribable.

The first three years of my life are a hard one to remember. I mean, I’m sure no human on this planet knows what happened in the first few years of their lives. I have to get every single detail from my immediate and extended family. And perhaps the photo albums which are collecting dust in the cupboard in the living room might give me something to work towards. All of this leads to the introduction to this post. When relatives say to you, “You were adorable back then!”, or “I remember how cute you were when you were young”, do they actually mean it, or are they forced to say it in front of me, otherwise, I’ll burst into tears?

I guess all of the information that I’ve ever gotten from everybody that I’ve known were that I “was cute”, I knew how to write in English before everybody else in my age group, and I was ‘smarter’ than the rest of them as well. I’m not sure if that’s the case now, or if they were saying the truth from the beginning, but I guess I have no option but to believe my family..

Next in “The Next Chapter”: II - A Whole New Beginning (1999 - 2000)