Tears of a father and a grateful son

YL was showing me some albums of old photos of him and his siblings and cousins as children, who were all brought up by his granny, parents and aunties. He told me that he was not an easy child to bring up. For example, he had to be carried up and down along the balcony of their old HDB flat to be coaxed with a musical "drum" just to eat his meal! He was laughing and reminiscing about the good old days of his childhood.

Moments later, whilst helping to bottle-feed Isaac on the sofa in the living room, YL called out to me to bring him a tissue paper. I thought he needed that to wipe the residual milk from Isaac's mouth. To my surprise, I saw tears sliding down his face! The tissue paper was meant to wipe away those tears! Concerned, I asked what was bothering him. He said, "nothing". He then explained how he was just thinking of the past and waves of gratitude just overwhelmed his heart.

Now, as a father himself, YL could really understand and empathise the unconditional love his parents and granny had for him and his siblings/cousins, regardless of how difficult they may be as children or the inconveniences that they might have caused...

I took a look at my hubby, the tears and sentiments still fresh on his face.
My eyes then went to little Isaac in his arms, blissfully unaware of the anxieties that he might have caused us sometimes.
I thought of my own parents, their unconditional love for me too.

I was touched.
I took another tissue from the tissue box.
This time, it was meant for me.

Little YL & his Daddy back in the 1970s...