Grandma has embarked on new travels and new adventures. The family gathered to wish her well, and while we will miss her, we cherish the memories and the impact she has had on our lives. Even to this day, there are little antics and idiosyncrasies that I do that are passed down from growing up with grandma. I'm sure some of these will also pass down to my children.
(circa 2000)
I don't recall her ever yelling at me or being mad at me. She always cared for me with a smile and happiness. That's what I will remember most, and I hope I can be even half as good at taking care of my kids as she was.
Some of my memories of her:
Back in the day, grandma was preschool to my cousins and I. I remember her in the kitchen slaving away from morning til night making savory, home cooked traditional Chinese meals... meat broth oatmeal with ground meat and veggies, a similar dish that I make my kids now. She would spend hours using a cleaver to chop up meat into a fine ground. I would request for a delicate sweet steamed egg dish that she would no doubt make. While she cooked away, my cousins and I would wreck havoc on the apartment, playing Hot Lava and hopping from couch to chair, to hardwood floors, and scaling doorways.
Another memory I recall, was doing something to really enrage grandpa, and he came at me with a stick for spanking. I was little, so I darted under a bed and hid there just out of his reach. I knew I would be getting a big ol' spanking when he figured out how to get me, but Grandma came to save me, yelling down the hall for him to leave me alone. I never did get that spanking. Thanks grandma!
A fun memory I have of grandma, is going grocery shopping with her. The store was several blocks away down and up a hill. We would walk there and she would buy a 6-pack of beer which I would help carry up and down the hill back home. What was the beer for? Well, every time I got a report card from school, I would get a treat of having pizza for dinner! But pizza is known to internally heat up your chi, so grandma would pour me a cup of beer and I had to drink it since beer would cool down your chi. I am sure this contributed to my alcohol tolerance abilities that I displayed post-college years.
Grandma told me many stories of her youth and our family, from her young days and how she loved to dance and sing. It could be that Emilia inherited some of that from MaMa as my child loves to sing and dance. Grandma told me stories about the war, WWII, and how life as she knew it changed. She told me stories of China's Cultural Revolution and how her and grandpa had to flee for their lives to save themselves and their children. Stories that seem right out of a movie, hiding out in the day, fleeing at night with young children, choosing to flee solo vs with other refugees to minimize being caught, to make it across China's border into safety.
I remember those stories, but it is hard to imagine my young grandma so brave and courageous, cause indeed, those stories are courageous. She lived through two wars! Then again, I did get glimpses of a feisty personality not associated with child caring. I recall the family taking her to a restaurant for lunch, and as we came out of the restaurant, a man bumped into her accidentally and she immediately started hitting him with her cane and went off in Chinese on the poor dude. Feisty!
No doubt grandma's life and joy was so much about serving her family, kids & grand kids. She would always tell me stories about my aunts, uncles, and dad as kids. She would always comment "so and so is such a good boy or girl". She said that about
every single one of my cousins even though I KNEW they weren't THAT good. I didn't believe her anymore because she was way too biased! She would always remind me that my parents care for me as I lived with her on and off until I was ~16 yrs old. Her family and kids really were her joy. She had the biggest smile every time she saw any of her kids, grand kids, and great grand kids.
Thanks grandma for being the hearth of the family, because you really were! You raised good kids, who raised their good kids, your grand kids, who will continue to raise your good great grand kids.
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