In the past

I was watching one of my favorite shows today called "Star junior show boong-a-bbang". I started to think about my past and remembered some amazing childhood and all the love that I received. However, I also remembered all the times I spent alone in my house... Dad was working abroad for most of my life and mom sometimes couldn't make it home. I guess that's what happens when you have an important position in a busy corporate company.

My grandparents raised me for a good part of my childhood. That didn't really change anything from me staying home by myself. Grandpa had a political staff to attend to/work and grandma often had meetings with her church women's group. Now don't get me wrong. I believe that I had a great childhood. When everyone was home, we would often vacation to different countries and I received all the love in the world.

It's funny because the first time I found out that Santa Claus wasn't real was actually in kindergarden (possibly around 5 or 6?). My mom had a business meeting in Japan and I had to spend Christmas Eve by myself for the most part. I'm not sure what time it was but VERY early in the morning, I heard the door to my room open. Actually it was my mom's room since I often waited for her there... When I gently opened my eyes, I could see my grandmother putting a small black plastic bag by my pillow. The next morning I woke up and she was trying very hard to tell me that the candies inside the plastic bag were from Santa. I felt bad for letting her down by ruining the surprise so I just played along and acted gleeful. You see, because my mom had to leave in a hurry, my grandmother didn't have time to prepare a believable "Santa gift". Which is why it came in a plastic bag and contained candy from the candy jar...

I never understood when the other kids envied me for being an only child. Trust me, it's not as fun as it looks. I mean I'm sure there are some aspects of having siblings that are not very pleasant but at least you have each other right? Because I went to a private kindergarden, my house was very far away from the place. All my friends lived in the district next to us while me and a few friends lived in a different district. On days when no one was home, I was told to stay home because nobody can keep track of me if I'm running around outside... I spent my time reading books, reading books, playing the piano, and reading even more books. I also watched T.V. and tried a million times to get a hold of my mom at work. Our phone conversations were often short but always ended with kisses.

My mom gave up a typical average dream job and stayed home for a while when I entered elementary school. But to this day, I always remember my early childhood of when I spent my nights alone trying to sleep through a thunderstorm or when I spent my days reading and playing piano...