The Golden Years
We were having cakes and tea at the Hilton lounge this evening. My university friends were intent on celebrating my upcoming birthday for me, and to be honest, I am not particularly enamoured with birthdays. Not especially now that I have reached the thirties. A birthday means another year of youth gone, and I am not really ready to accept that as yet. So, it was really an intervention of chance and fate tonight when a group of four elderly people sat down at the next table.
They seemed to be tourists staying at the hotel, and they were a picture of contentment. Meticulously dressed as grandfatherly and grandmotherly people would be, they exuded the glow of having indulged in and enjoyed a well-deserved vacation. There were smiles and quiet exchanges between them. They did not order any of Hilton’s famed pastry delights, and they seemed to amuse themselves at times by quietly glancing at my party. Another elderly couple sat at the table behind ours, similarly very well turned out, the lady with coiffure hair and characteristic large pearl earrings that grandmothers love, and she was observing my party's conversation with a happy and keen appreciation.
We must have appeared a fascinating sight. They were most likely Americans I suppose, Hilton being an American favourite, and looking on at a group of young locals enjoying an evening night’s out at their hotel lounge would be charming. Indeed, old people do like to observe. To be frank, my party would be an item of interest, for when I glanced around the lounge and hotel lobby area, we were the only locals having tea there. Afterall, the Hilton is indeed a little off the exciting part of Orchard Road, not too well frequented by Singaporeans.
Not long after, many other old people, similarly immaculately attired and glowing with the same aura of aged self-appreciation and true enjoyment of life, appeared at the adjacent. Perhaps you could say that I was being nosy or inquisitive, but I just like seeing old people, as in the elderly, traveling abroad on leisurely tour packages. So I looked at the elderly figures assembled at the lobby. They were leaving, going home - there was a buzz, a sense of excitement, and also a sense of quiet content. Some of them had large paper bags and parcels with them, most likely some Christmas gifts that they had bought on this short trip here, and two of them had larger hand carriers. Our aged friends at the next table were in the same tour group, for the quartet soon stood up and ambled over to join the rest. And so there they were, waiting in a quiet appreciative little group near the main hotel doors. I have a deep respect for people of their generation, for they were brought up in the conventions of a more genteel society. I could observe that in their carriage, in their gait, in their impeccable choice of garments of matching patterns and colours, and in their polite little smiles and nods to each other. And as they finally made their way out to the coach, one couple holding hands - even at this age, bless them – took a quick turn round the tall glittering gold Christmas tree just at the entrance, and seemed to be committing to memory a mental picture of the surroundings. Then, they were gone.
I like to see old people enjoying themselves. They are truly a lesson about living, that we should fully experience and savour each moment of life. I like the idea of grandfathers and grandmothers, having worked for the most part of their lives, retiring thereafter, and having saved up that tidy sum of money, finally embark on that long awaited little holiday. They would not really splurge of course, for that would not have been prudent or proper, but they would be pleased with each other’s company, and would appreciate being in a different or at times exotic location, enjoying the little pleasantries of seeing places, meeting people, and making loving purchases for little Bill or Mable back home. Old people indulging in such little well-deserved treats are a beautiful and gratifying sight to behold. They have such grace and elegance that only age and accompanying wisdom would bring. They have rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes in these moments of leisure, not too different from that same descriptions of young children.
To most of us concerned with staying the ravaging hands of time, perhaps growing old need not be so feared after all. Our elderly friends of this evening have shown what the ‘golden years’ are – the sunset moments of shimmering shades and colours, glowing with a vividness and brilliance. They are truly a testament to the richness and splendor of life itself.
They seemed to be tourists staying at the hotel, and they were a picture of contentment. Meticulously dressed as grandfatherly and grandmotherly people would be, they exuded the glow of having indulged in and enjoyed a well-deserved vacation. There were smiles and quiet exchanges between them. They did not order any of Hilton’s famed pastry delights, and they seemed to amuse themselves at times by quietly glancing at my party. Another elderly couple sat at the table behind ours, similarly very well turned out, the lady with coiffure hair and characteristic large pearl earrings that grandmothers love, and she was observing my party's conversation with a happy and keen appreciation.
We must have appeared a fascinating sight. They were most likely Americans I suppose, Hilton being an American favourite, and looking on at a group of young locals enjoying an evening night’s out at their hotel lounge would be charming. Indeed, old people do like to observe. To be frank, my party would be an item of interest, for when I glanced around the lounge and hotel lobby area, we were the only locals having tea there. Afterall, the Hilton is indeed a little off the exciting part of Orchard Road, not too well frequented by Singaporeans.
Not long after, many other old people, similarly immaculately attired and glowing with the same aura of aged self-appreciation and true enjoyment of life, appeared at the adjacent. Perhaps you could say that I was being nosy or inquisitive, but I just like seeing old people, as in the elderly, traveling abroad on leisurely tour packages. So I looked at the elderly figures assembled at the lobby. They were leaving, going home - there was a buzz, a sense of excitement, and also a sense of quiet content. Some of them had large paper bags and parcels with them, most likely some Christmas gifts that they had bought on this short trip here, and two of them had larger hand carriers. Our aged friends at the next table were in the same tour group, for the quartet soon stood up and ambled over to join the rest. And so there they were, waiting in a quiet appreciative little group near the main hotel doors. I have a deep respect for people of their generation, for they were brought up in the conventions of a more genteel society. I could observe that in their carriage, in their gait, in their impeccable choice of garments of matching patterns and colours, and in their polite little smiles and nods to each other. And as they finally made their way out to the coach, one couple holding hands - even at this age, bless them – took a quick turn round the tall glittering gold Christmas tree just at the entrance, and seemed to be committing to memory a mental picture of the surroundings. Then, they were gone.
I like to see old people enjoying themselves. They are truly a lesson about living, that we should fully experience and savour each moment of life. I like the idea of grandfathers and grandmothers, having worked for the most part of their lives, retiring thereafter, and having saved up that tidy sum of money, finally embark on that long awaited little holiday. They would not really splurge of course, for that would not have been prudent or proper, but they would be pleased with each other’s company, and would appreciate being in a different or at times exotic location, enjoying the little pleasantries of seeing places, meeting people, and making loving purchases for little Bill or Mable back home. Old people indulging in such little well-deserved treats are a beautiful and gratifying sight to behold. They have such grace and elegance that only age and accompanying wisdom would bring. They have rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes in these moments of leisure, not too different from that same descriptions of young children.
To most of us concerned with staying the ravaging hands of time, perhaps growing old need not be so feared after all. Our elderly friends of this evening have shown what the ‘golden years’ are – the sunset moments of shimmering shades and colours, glowing with a vividness and brilliance. They are truly a testament to the richness and splendor of life itself.
Perhaps, I could love birthdays afterall.
posted by edwinheng at 11:20 pm
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