SINGAPORE – I recently counted the number of weekends left in the year and realised there are 23. Twenty-three only! With 29 already behind us.

That makes me slightly anxious. While the first half of the year has been all right for our family, I worry that the remaining weeks and months will trickle away in the routine activities – work or school, meals, household matters and chores – and the rushing about that make up most of our family life.

Already, too many years are starting to blur into one another. What highlights stick in my memory from three years ago, when my youngest daughter was in Secondary 2 and my middle daughter in her first year of polytechnic? It’s a struggle to recall anything distinctive.

I don’t want to simply see the year through and hope for a better year ahead. I want this year to be memorable, filled with meaningful shared experiences, and for our family to have many significant joyful moments together.

So many potential things to do and only 23 weekends left to do them. And if you or your children are taking part in the National Day Parade, you have even fewer weekends free.

If your child is taking the PSLE, your schedule is probably already busy, perhaps with extra coaching sessions, given that the oral exam and listening comprehension component are in August.

If this year is an O-level or A-level year for the family, you’re not going anywhere until November. I know because that’s how we spent last year, when my youngest was taking her O Levels.

Every weekend is precious if your son is enlisting for his National Service soon or doing his Basic Military Training.

And it can be a challenge finding a fortnight when university, polytechnic and MOE school vacations overlap.

That’s why last week saw me staring at the calendar and thinking aloud to my husband as he wandered in and out of the room doing his own thing: “So if we want to... and then in December we normally... but this year... There might be a window only in...