5 days 5 nights together

Photo: DUYEN PHAN

There are also dozens of invitations. Do you like it? Do you like it? Are you happy? Probably happy. I asked myself. But whoever gathers, gather. Whoever disperses, disperse. Whoever wants to escape the heat, go ahead... My family is staying put this time.

Anything is fine. Nothing is fine. Why do we have to do something to be right? The most important thing is to be together, happy, peaceful, leisurely, and quiet.

1. Some friends were worried, "Should we gather at the grandparents' house?". Some were cautious, "Will the kids leaving make the grandparents feel sad, and the group will miss their children." After "packing" the family into the mobile home, picking up the kids from school, driving through the night to the camp, a close friend had time to "comfort" them: Some families gather together, some families disperse, you have to understand, that's right. I laughed, gather here, then disperse somewhere else. Dispersing here is just to gather somewhere else. There's nothing to worry about. It's just a matter of timing.

Just the other day when we went to see the house, even though it only needed a place to "go in and out", that place had to have a large living room, big enough for friends to gather and drink on the weekend.

Back and forth, "also crawling in and out" but must have a bedroom for the kids. Then no longer need a living room because they each want a room, all friends have wives calling and children calling, boss is spinning, no time to have a living room to hang out. Then comes the time when the house is too spacious, must find a small place so the wife won't nag about cleaning.

My younger brother came over to visit and looked at the empty apartment with a worried look: "Let me order a table set, it can be folded neatly when not needed". I laughed and said: "My son, I've already "minimized" from three to one, why add a bunch of messy tables and chairs?"

It seems that at a certain age, we suddenly find ourselves talking less, buying less, partying less, and drinking less. Worry, anger, judgment, expectations… also seem to lessen. Is it because of this that the space around us suddenly becomes more spacious? The words that come out of our mouths become softer?

2. The little girl went to school far from home, one day saw a clip of her father singing with his colleagues at the company and suddenly exclaimed: "Dad sings so well. Why don't you sing for us?" "Come on, sister, when you were little, I held you in my arms, almost sang around the world and you didn't sleep. Everyone in the family said it was because my singing was so horrible. Since then, I have never dared to sing for you again."

The daughter was already sarcastic and sarcastic. She laughed: so now dad only sings parts that "judge" his high voice?

The little girl tickled her old man. The old man changed the subject: "So I have more motivation to practice my lessons. When you come back, I'll sing to you, okay?"

He said yes, then remembered something and reminded: Now, Dad, practice singing for your youngest daughter and your princess to listen. Now there are only three people in the house... The old man pretended to sigh: Those two people won't listen. So how can you sing so that the "young" will listen, Dad! So that in the future, they won't blame you like me: Dad (sings) well but I don't.

The fat old man laughed: Now you're even borrowing Mr. Bien's words (the work I like it but you don't love it by writer Doan Thach Bien). Wait until you leave Vietnam to come back to reading Vietnamese literature, my child? The two of you laughed out loud. Remember to practice singing, so that your youngest daughter won't blame you "why are you singing for anyone else?" I know, Second Sister. This long holiday, I won't go anywhere, I'll just lie down for 5 days and 5 nights to practice singing, okay?

3. There are few days when we can talk to each other so much, even just from a small story of practicing singing... It's just what my child told me. The way an eighteen-year-old girl starts learning how to take care of a family, how to remind this and that... Actually, there's no need for big things. There's no need for many plans and goals. Practicing singing is fine. Cooking is fine. Lying around reading a book all night is fine. Doing anything is fine. Not doing anything is fine. Why do we have to do something? The most important thing is to be together, happy, peaceful, leisurely, and quiet.

Take care, be present in each other, in the present days, so as not to regret. Because one day when we look back, we will see that the joys, memories, and happy moments are not the times when we achieve this or that goal, buy this house, change that car... but the most ordinary and simple things: the child rushing out from the corner of the house to greet me when I come home from work, the moment when the child holds my hand to reconcile, the early morning or late afternoon walks, without having to say anything to each other, listening to the same bird call, sharing a look, an act of agreement, even the way we respect opposing views.

Or the way we look at a flower, a leaf.

We often forget such simple and beautiful things. Sometimes, when we do nothing, think nothing, expect nothing, or wait for nothing, simple things appear as beautiful as a clump of green grass in the scorching midday sky, like a sip of fresh water, like a rainbow from a rain that has been awaited for many days.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/5-ngay-5-dem-co-mat-trong-nhau-20240428090200993.htm