To fly a kite

In all my childhood, I've had only a few recollection of flying a kite. I've owned a really beautiful cotton kite, but never had a chance to fly it. I don't know where it is now.

My most vivid kite flying experience was with a 50 sen kite that I bought, made of plastic bag. Running the whole length of beach to set the kite on it's take-off only left me stuck half-body in the quicksand, and a missing sandal. Plus, the plastic tore off the kite. So there goes my kite flying experience.

This Chinese New Year, I noticed the kite man with his stall full of lovely kites. From eeny weeny ones to ginormous, 2-handed control kites. I already had a small kite from him. I decided I wanted a bigger one.

The smaller kite

The bigger kite

My sisters and I quickly set off to fly the 2 kites. It took a while, before the kite flew. Getting the kite off the ground was the tricky part, especially when the wind is minimal. Once it gets higher, it's a piss, I mean, a piece of cake.



Within minutes, both kites were high in the air. There's this beauty in flying a kite; the tension between the strings, the right amount of pull and release, the height the kite can achieve. It's all beautiful.

I learned that in order for the kite to achieve greater heights, it needs to resist the wind, tilt enough to get the leverage, and boost its way up. And the kite can only soar as high as the string allows it to.

Sometimes, we as humans, wish for freedom, like a flying kite. But rules and restrictions are in place, similar to the string attached to the kite. But without that string, the kite would probably get detached and blown away, and crash. It got me thinking that rules and restrictions in our lives are there to give us enough healthy tension for us to soar. Without it, we might lose ourselves, and crash. But if we know how to make full use of it, we are able to soar higher and higher.

Out of the philosophical mode, I lost the bigger kite that day:( The wind was too strong and it swept it away from our hands. I could only watch helplessly as the wind took the kite, together with the string out of my hands and over the sea. It was a heavy feeling of losing a beutiful kite. I was really sad. But that's life. We get something, we try our best to fly it, and sometimes, we lose it:(

Good news is, in life, sometimes we get second chances. I know the kite man will always be there with his stall full of colorful kites:) And for a small fee, I can purchase a small piece of happiness:)