Stepping out for more

It has been a #learningjourney and #selfdiscovery this past weekend.

Spent our Saturday afternoon joining Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) in their guided tour to Raffles Lighthouse. Something I had been wanting to do and managed to get my hands on 3 tickets for the entire family to go on this trip.

It was really educational. I learnt so much about our port history and operations and the future of Singapore as a shipping hub. We see ships from our coastline and they seems to be where they are randomly but they are actually nicely 'parked' where they are supposed to be in the designated 'parking space' that has no lines to mark them.

I now know we have 5 lighthouses in Singapore namely Horsburgh Lighthouse, Sultan Shoal, Pulau Pisang, Raffles Lighthouse & Bedok lighthouse which is on top of a HDB block. I used to only know 2 - Horsburgh & Raffles Lighthouse. It is interesting to note how seafarers identify these lighthouses through the sequences of lights they emits.

We travelled 1h15m on boat to Raffles Lighthouse and got the chance to see the lighthouse up close. Nestled on a small island managed by 2 lightkeepers (7 in the past with job redundancy due to technology). We had a short tour around the island and was blessed with 1 of the keeper willing to have a short chat with us to share his 10 days work and life on the island.

Interestingly, I noted that when asked about the prerequisite for the job, the 1st thing he mentioned was his education level and I can sense that bit of awkwardness at that moment. Yes, we are very ingrained with educational level every time we are asked about prerequisite. I think lightkeepers are amazing. Living and working on the island, isolated from friends and family for 10 days, managing the entire island on their own is no mean feat. I can live 10 days on an island but I am not able to do what they do on the island for 8 or more years.

This is such a good knowledge and learning trip that I think MPA should allow teenagers who are accompanied by parents to attend (we had to forfeit my son's ticket cos I mistakenly thought that under 18 yo accompanied by parents are allowed). Teenagers are definitely old enough to manage themselves appropriately especially with parents supervision.

For those who are keen, MPA now conducts the tour on a regular basis. Tours are conducted every 2nd?and 4th?Saturdays of the month, and tickets will be released for sale at 8am on the 1st of every month for the following month via? Eventbrite .

That's not the end to my weekend. My Sunday started early at 4.30pm (with lack of sleep the night before), accompanying my son to his first 10km race - Lazada Run 2023. Left him with his run mate and headed with coach to Stadium where both of us ran 3km on the last stretch of the 10km race route to catch them. It was a nice morning run with coach and not something out of the ordinary for me since I almost only run in the morning.

The day continued with church followed by son's Pesta Sukan #floorball tournament at Our Tampines Hub ActiveSG Community Auditorium all the way to past 7pm where he competed in the U17 boys category. As the day past, I can feel my aged body getting restless and feeling tired. I suddenly realized that I am aging and my body is aging too. I have never thought age would be an issue as I have always remarked "age is but a number".

It got me thinking how can I keep up with him? I have made a promise to myself to be present in many of the happenings in his life - significant or not - for as long as he permits. The thought that my aged body may not be able to keep up - run with him, be at his matches to provide the moral and physical support, always being there physically to witness and be part of many of the things he does - has never crossed my mind.

It kind of worries and scares me. Besides keeping myself active and fit with regular exercise, what else can I do to keep up? I had both jokingly and seriously told him that I want to march alongside him in my full pack (separately on the opposite side) when he does his army road march in 2 years time. Definitely not an idea that he is all welcoming though. I start to doubt if I can do it? That is one of the milestones for I set for my BIG 5.

Don't we all have such moments of pondering? For now, I will be on a self discovery journey. How far more I can stretch my body, how long more can I keep up with my son's activities and how soon will he stop allowing me to be present? Never stop learning, never stop discovering about yourself. There is so much more we can uncover about the things around us and ourselves. Technology has given us a lot of information at our fingertips, but nothing beats being in touch with reality and seeing things in person.

Step out to discover more.