National Day is upon the nation. It becomes a season of mocking and affection. Mocking because of the bad songs, ministers dressing and behaving in ways totally incongruous to their ministerial personas and parade performances with costumes that invite more than raised eyebrows. But there is also affection. The fireworks, the march past and the bomb burst which have been my perennial favourites. But this year, add to that, JED and their excitement.
School does a pretty good job getting them all hyped up. They want the flags. They want to sing the National Anthem and they want to be outfitted in red and white for the weekend. All of which makes it more fun for me as well. Their excitement is contagious.
They return from school singing the first line of every National Day song, mixing them up with hilarious outcomes. "Count Muddy Singapore" was among my favourites. They eat local cuisine in school as part of the National Day party. So they are stuffed with roti prata and fried kway teow.
I take the opportunity to dress the twins in their Dr Seuss Thing 1 and Thing 2 t-shirts. Of course, it once again elicits objections from Evan because he has to wear the Thing 2 t-shirt even though he is BIGGER than Jordan. Even though he does grasp the concept that Jordan is older, he still has a bone to pick with my Ob-gyn for not being able to find him so Jordan was taken out first. It will be one of those things that he will be disgruntled about for life; the sheer fact that the Ob-gyn did not have a GPS to direct him to Evan first, Evan will never be first born even though his size shows otherwise for now.
So, through their eyes, there is no cynicism. There is plain joy and glee at it being a holiday, at it being someone's (Singapore is someone to them) birthday and there is a big party and parade to celebrate it. That and the fact that Mommy and Papa are home and we have friends over for dinner just makes it all the more festive.
I said on Facebook that I would try to bring up the kids to be good Singaporeans and I meant it. The cynicism and the eye ball rolling that comes together with the attempts at trying to rally national spirit is hidden when we talk to them about National Day. And thankfully, when we see it through their eyes, for that little while, we are struck by their wonder, their joy and glee and it is easy to forget our cultivated cynicism. That is, until Love at First Light plays again!
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