Carnations are often symbolized with respect and admiration. These flowers work equally well as a gift for someone's close in the family like our parents. These flowers help me to recall vividly on my childhood days, every year without fail I would make a trip to China Town on Chinese New Year's Eve to do some last minute shopping. The crowds were usually large this time of the year and the streets were so packed with people that I could hardly walk, and occasionally I had to squeeze through to see what the stores were selling. This time of the year they were selling Chinese New Year goodies, either foods or decorations. Usually I would roam the crowed streets for awhile hoping to get New Year stuffs at a discount. The reason I was here because I was instructed to come and buy one most important thing that I must not forget. I finally was able to find the store I was looking for, the store that sold flowers. I was looking high and low for yellow carnations and I was able to find some, I was relieved, I did not mind the price. Although there were not many good ones left, I was getting exhausted after roaming for hours. Yellow carnations were my mother's favorite, I was instructed by my father to go get some for my mom on China Town. It was in memory of her, so that I can place it on her altar as an offering before the turn of the lunar New Year. .
Reminiscing the past of my childhood, it was like everything just happened yesterday. Now, I was staring at the flower shop in the wet market looking for awhile aimlessly. I was deciding what to get for my father as I was about to go visit him. As I recall my father is a hard man to be with. None of my brothers understood him, and it was difficult to speak calmly with him because he was a hot tempered person. I remembered packing his stuff in his drawer and came to know some personal stuff that I did not know about him when he was younger. He was once a military person working for the British Army during World War II and there were some photos with some friends I had not seen before.