Grandmother, an appellation is a little strange to me for so a long time. Yet deep inside of my heart, there has been still a shadow of woman all along. She was my grandmother, a woman my mother ever called her 'mother'. Her name is Xiao Suying, no English name.
This year is the ten anniversaries of grandmother's death. I have remembered the year of 1998 when I was graduating from my university. Then my hometown was flood heavily with many houses and roads destroyed badly. Just on the middle of that year, my grandmother went to heaven with a terrible cancer. Nowadays, her smile often was brought to my mind. I love my grandmother deeply. I'm not sure, someday, if I was old too, may I still remember something about another woman of senility? So, I think, I have to type something by my keyboard to memorialize her.
Actually, my earliest memory of my childhood was brought from my grandmother. Then, I was only four years old. In countryside, as you know, there were so many things to do, including the farming and housework. As my father worked in city and my elder brother was too young. All things must be done by my mother so as that my mother was too busy to look after us, two brothers. My grandmother had no hesitation to take the responsibility of looking after us. We had lived with my grandparents for two years. Actually, she was also very busy, as my grandfather was sickish during those days and could not bear too more things. It's the exactly reason why I love her all long. She always thought a lot about others, including her husband, her family, her neighbors and all others around her, just without herself. Then, everyday, she had to firstly finish all the housework and then took us out to help her husband on the field. We two brothers played nearby there until the end of works. Once, I was a little naughty and escape from there with my brother, without telling her. Several elder playmates guided us to a garden. During the playing, I slipped up with a big stone. I was wounded heavily. I felt my blood creep over my face and later I got to know that my face was puncture a lot by a branch. Sometime later, my grandmother got arrived and very worried about me. She covered a long distance to a clinique with me on her back. All the way, she continued to blame herself for her breach of duty. Then I was too young to comfort her, only to weep myself out. After that, there was a wine scar left on my face, up to now. Later every time she saw me, she always regret to me. I know, it was a deep love for her whole family.
Later of that, I had to go to school and had not so much time to live with them. Yet I often went to my grandparents' on my holiday or summer & winter vacations. After we got there, my grandmother always tried to make a good dish for us. She firstly asked us what we would like. We liked fish and then she prepared a lot fishmonger for my grandfather to go out fishing. After lunch, she led us to field to cull watermelon. They planted watermelon those years. In my memories, the watermelons were always plump and sweet. So every time we went there, we two were both very happy. As you know, to go to grandmothers' was a very delight thing for us during my childhood.
when we were young, we two brothers are both honest and lovely. I have still remembered that my grandmother always repeated her words to us. She told us that we two should learn to be pure-hearted, to study hard, to care for my mother and to help my mother to do some housework as soon as possible. In fact, my grandmother made me a great influence. Till now, I have thought that to love my family is natural, is something of God's truth. Her love, the love for Chinese traditional family, was transferred to me now.
(to be continued)
