Dearest Tahlia,

Hi, how are you? Its been a while since we last met and I am sure you have since grown a lot into a pretty and intelligent little girl of whom Janly and Morris are so proud and to whom Keely is looking as her role model.

I was sorting out my old photos recently and came across those that we took when we visited your family 11 years ago. I think it was the year 2006, and you were such a baby then and so was Sam. (surely you can’t recall, neither can Sam, as you two were so little back then). I recall that you were just beginning to speak and the favourite phrase that you were always saying was “不要講話”? (you must be talking so much such that your mom had to constantly shut you up). Keely hasn’t even come to this world then but time flies at an unbelievable speed, and at a blink of the eyes Sam is now moving onto upper secondary school soon and you will be in Grade 7, right?  On reflection I think our two families have not been connecting as much as we should have. After all we are rather close relatives and we are only a little bit more than an hour’s flight apart. Surely we are all busy, especially your parents, and we all have our hectic schedules. But it would have been really great if you, Keely and Sam could have grown up closer together. Nevertheless, we are fond of you all and lets endeavour to stay connected more often from now on.

Fortunately in today’s world with an over-abundance of social media we have been able to stay in better touch on the net; I have been seeing photos of you growing up in Facebook, and recently saw the fantastic video of your holiday in New Zealand. We were in Australia around the same time and we also had some great fun. You are growing up fast and have become such a lovely young lady as seen in the video; Sam is also turning into a young teenager now. When I look back at Sam’s development over the past two or three years, I consider that there are three significant factors relating to a child’s growing up which we want to share with you. Firstly, be less reliant on the parents in handling your everyday life, be it commuting to your after school activities, or making your own breakfast, or saving your pocket money for your favourite poster, etc. Learning to become independent is the most important part of growing up. There is no denying that most of today’s parents are overprotective and always do far more for their children than what they should. Both parents and children have to learn how to ‘let go’, and believe me this is an art which is not easy to master. Bear in mind that today’s world is a complicated one, full of threats and uncertainties, and teenagers who are still growing up may not be sufficiently mature to fully appreciate the complexities of certain matters that they are handling so parents’ attention, involvement and supervision from time to time cannot be avoided which should not be regarded as deterring the children’s growing up and learning to become independent. Secondly, learn more about yourself, critically assess your strengths and weaknesses, and what are your interests and passions, and what are things you don’t like or feel uncomfortable about. If there are things about yourself that you are unsure about, just try it out and you will find the answer to it. It is important that you equip yourself with the knowledge about your own self, this way you are in a better position to plan your future including your future study and

career path. Thirdly, encounter failures and face up to them. There is a Chinese saying “失敗乃成功之母” and the English equivalence “Failures breed Success”, both teaching us to reflect on our failures, learn from our mistakes, and face up to the unpleasantries of failures. Everyone will come across failures at some points in time, failures cannot and will never be avoided. The important thing is to cope with them, face them positively and build successes from them. You are turning thirteen soon and all our best wishes to you on your birthday. Apart from the photo when I was 13 years old, here is a more recent one from our trip to Taipei in June 2007. Look forward to seeing you soon!

Love,

Auntie Irene