Come over to my place...

I remember my mother bringing me along to visit families, for reasons such as someone is not well, funerals, births, or just visiting a friend or family whom we have not met for some time. When we were younger we did not have a car, neither telephone,so we were not able to inform the family before visiting. We used to take the bus or cab for the visits. The families will welcome us happily, and will serve us tea and biscuits, or if nothing is available then they will quickly run to the shop and get us something. Nowadays with the ease of having a car and all, casual visiting is almost a forgotten art.I have heard of people who says that they were upset as they had friends just dropping in without letting them know or given a short notice. I wonder is it because we have lost the 'community'feeling and are too caught up with our busy lives, or maybe it is true that life is indeed very busy, with career, traffic jams, more demands to earn more, etc...? We felt tired after work today but had a neighbour in hospital down with dengue. So I thought to myself what my mother would have done? Sigh...I have to visit the neighbour, so we went to visit her with a copy of the Oprah magazine to cheer her up. She looked happy that we visited, and I was glad that we did. We were able to show the kids the importance of caring and visiting, although they went to bed nearer to 10pm and not 830pm!