Psalm 90:12 states: "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom".
诗篇90篇12节：“求你指教我们怎样数算自己的日子，好叫我们得着智慧的心。”
吉姆·罗恩 （Jim Rohn） 说过：”即使是最长寿的人，其寿命也是短暂的。” 一个人一生中的春天，其实并不多。回头看看过去的岁月，仿佛昨天还是个孩子的自己，如今却已步入人生的秋季。秋季的风景绝美，气候凉爽宜人，适合穿得漂亮帅气。不像马来西亚四季如夏的天气，热得让人想起沙滩、草席、凉鞋、椰水和风筝，还有那些在沙滩上成群往洞里钻的股窗蟹。啊～那一去不返的人生夏季。XD
Jim Rohn once said, “Even the longest life is short.” There are actually not many springs in a person’s lifetime. Looking back on the years gone by, it seems like only yesterday that I was a child, yet now I have already entered the autumn of life. The scenery in autumn is beautiful, and the weather is cool and pleasant—perfect for dressing up and looking your best. It is certainly different from Malaysia, where the weather is like summer all year round: hot enough to make you think of beaches, straw mats, sandals, coconut water, kites, and those little crabs that scurry in groups into holes along the shore. Ah… the summer of life that will never return.
我有一个儿时好友因感染流感，在花样年华便撒手人寰；另一位好友则在四十岁左右，在打羽球的过程中突然倒下，再也没有醒来。而我的父亲，也在人生的秋季因手术后遗症悄然退场。没有人能预测自己会以怎样的方式、在什么时候从这个世界离开。据说，今年2月21日离世的美籍香港创作歌手方大同，留下这样的遗言：“时间不等人。随着年龄的增长，越发能理解时间的现实与虚幻。生活带来了各种转折与挑战，但我认为，我们的目标之一，是以雅致得体的态度，走完生命之路。”儿时唱的歌这么说：“生命不在乎它长短，生命要看它的内涵。” 我们无法选择退场的方式，但我们可以选择以优雅的姿态走完人生。
I had a childhood friend who passed away in the prime of life after contracting influenza. Another friend suddenly collapsed while playing badminton around the age of forty and never woke up. My father, too, quietly left this world during the autumn of his life following complications from surgery. No one can predict how or when they will leave this world. It is said that Hong Kong-American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong, who passed away on February 21 2025, left behind these words: “Time waits for no one. As we grow older, we increasingly understand the reality and illusion of time. Life brings all kinds of turning points and challenges, but I believe one of our goals is to walk the path of life with grace and dignity.” A song we sang in childhood put it this way: “Life is not about how long it lasts, but about what it contains.” We cannot choose how we will leave this world, but we can choose to walk through life with grace.
为了以优雅的姿态活着，我报名学游泳了。一开始，是不想成为那个在大家游泳时总是坐在一旁守包包的人。学了之后才发现，其实持续游泳的动力，源于主妇极容易患上的“五十肩”。有一次接孩子放学时，和一位等孙子的姐姐闲聊。她说自己曾因辛苦煮饭给一家老小吃，而患上五十肩，肩膀痛到连双手都抬不起来。我听了吓了一跳，问她：“后来怎么治好的？” 她说：“转动双手。” 想起自己也曾因长期做饭、频繁低头切菜，加上平时少运动肩颈，导致颈骨移位。丈夫载我去整骨时，车子轻轻一抖，就让我痛到差点掉泪。整骨师见状，好奇地问：“妳是做什么导致肩颈这么僵硬的？” 我说：“做饭。” 他说：“那妳丈夫有感谢妳吗？” 我：“没……有……” 学日语文法时读过这样的句子：结婚太久，容易让人忘了向对方表达感谢。咦，抚心自问，我自己是不是也这样呢？XD 所以我不敢奢望听到对方的感谢。我只是不想因为辛勤做饭，结果歪了脖子、抬不起手。
In order to live with grace, I signed up for swimming lessons. At first, I simply did not want to be the person who always sat on the sidelines guarding everyone’s bags while the others were swimming. But after I started learning to swim, I discovered another reason to keep swimming: the dreaded “frozen shoulder,” a condition that homemakers can easily develop. Once, while waiting to pick up my child from school, I struck up a conversation with a woman who was waiting for her grandchild. She told me that she had developed a frozen shoulder after spending years working hard to cook for her entire family. Her shoulders hurt so badly that she could hardly lift either arm. I was startled and asked, “How did you eventually get better?” She replied, “Rotate your arms.” That reminded me that I, too, had once suffered from neck and shoulder problems after years of cooking, constantly looking down while chopping vegetables, and rarely exercising my neck and shoulders. My neck had become misaligned. One day, my husband drove me to a chiropractor, and even the slightest bump in the road made the pain so intense that I nearly cried.
When the chiropractor saw my condition, he curiously asked, “What have you been doing that made your neck and shoulders so stiff?”
I said, “Cooking.”
He asked, “Does your husband thank you for it?”
Me: “No… he doesn’t…” XD
I once came across a sentence while studying Japanese grammar: The longer a couple has been married, the easier it is to forget to express gratitude to each other.
Hmm… When I looked into my own heart, I wondered, Am I guilty of the same thing? XD
So I don’t dare expect to hear words of thanks. I simply don’t want all those years of cooking to leave me with a crooked neck and arms that I can no longer lift.
上第一堂泳课的那天，是个风和日丽的星期天早晨。刚到游泳中心，就有一位年纪相仿的女同学问我：“请问妳是教练还是学生？” 哈哈，我就是那个看起来像教练的学生。XD 一开始，怕水的我总是无法好好憋气，总担心会溺水。教练还以为我在烦恼别的事，他说：“游泳的时候，什么也别想，专心游泳！” 后来看到我一次又一次从水中站起来深呼吸，他忍不住问：“妳到底在怕什么？” 我诚实的答道：“水！” 他：“……” XD 我硬着头皮上了大概六堂课后，终于克服了对水的恐惧。有一次我问教练：“教练教练，我肩膀的姿势对吗？”教练带着笑意说：“有时左边对，有时右边对。有时两边都对，有时两边都不对。” 就这样，一点一点地，我学会了自由式。
The morning of my first swimming lesson was a beautiful Sunday morning, with gentle weather and clear skies.
When I arrived at the swimming center, a female classmate around my age asked me, “Excuse me, are you the coach or a student?”
Haha! I was the student who looked like a coach.
At first, because I was afraid of water, I could never hold my breath properly. I was constantly worried that I would drown. The coach thought I was worrying about something else and said, “When you swim, don’t think about anything. Just concentrate on swimming!”
Later, after watching me repeatedly stand up in the water to take a deep breath, he couldn’t help asking, “What exactly are you afraid of?”
I honestly replied, “Water!”
He: “……”.
After forcing myself through about six lessons, I finally overcame my fear of water. One day I asked my coach, “Coach, coach, is my shoulder position correct?”
With a smile, he replied, “Sometimes the left side is correct, sometimes the right side is correct. Sometimes both sides are correct, and sometimes neither side is correct.”
And so, little by little, I learned to swim freestyle.
以优雅的姿态活着，对每个人来说定义可能不尽相同。但无论是什么定义，里面一定包含着“成为更好的自己”。但愿我们能完全接受那个并不完美的自己，发现还能改变的事物，完成还未达成的梦想。就像19世纪英国最重要的小说家之一玛丽。安。伊文斯（Mary Ann Evans） 所说的：“成为你本可能成为的人，永远都不算太晚。”
Living with grace may mean something different to each of us. But whatever our definition may be, I believe it must include becoming a better version of ourselves. May we learn to fully accept the imperfect person we are, discover the things that can still be changed, and fulfill the dreams we have yet to achieve. Just as Mary Ann Evans, one of the most important British novelists of the 19th century, once said: “It is never too late to become the person you might have been.”