Quality Time
Nigel had more than 3 months of relaxation time between the completion of his A-levels and enlistment. He spent it mostly playing his computer games, making music and doing some holiday jobs here and there.
But I made it a point to also spend quality time with him, knowing that once he entered the army, the opportunities for us to hang out would be very rare. These occasions are precious and must be treasured.
Nigel and I, cycling at the Bedok Jetty one evening. |
So we went cycling, bowling, playing snooker, eating and so on. On his last day as a civilian, we also managed to catch The Batman in PLQ. Hopefully, the kung-fu skills exhibited by Robert Pattinson's character might inspire Nigel to become a better soldier, although the relevance could be a little hard to see.
Nigel didn't seem to really appreciate my efforts to spend time with him very much - he always seemed to be too eager to rush home to his computer game. Hopefully, as the weeks and months go by, he might look back and realise those were the days (to me at least) that we would cling on to, even as the years roll on.