Hi. Remember me? I’ve been occupied with *things*. All sorts of things. I’m writing to keep everyone apprised of my current status, because I’m a self-centered narcissist.
Last night I received a voice mail from my uncle stating that my grandmother had passed away earlier that evening. My mother called my uncle and discussed with my uncle what was to be done. She relayed to me that Grandma went to sleep and never woke. I felt relief when I heard that. She’d lived a full and long life – 95 years.
I don’t know my grandmother as well as my mother did. What I do know of her were from the early years of my life and only recently from my visits to her when I was traveling in California. The remaining parts I know of her came from my mother. From the stories I hear, my grandmother was more active and energetic than when I met her later in her life.
I shall endeavor to give you a small slice of her life’s story as a memorial and a show of gratitude for having contributed to who I am. It will not be concise, but it will highlight what I believe to be the significant parts. It may not reflect her sentiments, but this is a story I saw unfolded in my mind’s eye as it was told to me over many years.
She was born and raised on the largest island of the Middle Kingdom. She survived the Japanese in her early years. She married two times. The first to a man unlucky at the gambling table. There were no children from that union. The second was a stern man whom she would never leave – my grandfather. In total they would have 5 children. 3 daughters followed by 2 sons. The first daughter did not live long after her birth. The remaining 4 all made it to adulthood. My mother was the 2nd daughter. They left the country of their birth with children in tow and traipsed all over southeast Asia. Refugees from one conflict to the next, none of which were their concerns. They settled in Vietnam and for a brief period flourished somewhat. As well as one can flourish in a land where one is a foreigner. My grandfather’s mental health declined. Dementia? Alzheimer’s? We’ll never know. What is known is that he walked out the door one day and never came back. A new conflict followed. Whatever ideological reasons for the conflict, it didn’t matter. It was not her or her family’s conflict. It was not even their country. So plans and preparations were made to leave. The destination did not matter. As with departures before from other lands, it was enough to depart to somewhere else. So, she with her youngest daughter and 2 sons smuggled themselves out. With help from people of deep conscience and altruism, they found themselves in the Beautiful Country as transliterated from her native tongue. And it has been here that my grandmother lived the final years of her life. She is survived by her oldest daughter, two sons, and 4 grandchildren.