Sunday 22 February 2015
"An Influential Event "
An event which has shaped my life and the person I have become was the day my grandmother passed away. It happened five years ago when I was in my junior year in polytechnic. My grandmother took care of my brother and I since we were born as both of my parents are working. We had very close ties because we stayed together. I still remembered her telling me bed time stories whenever I couldn’t sleep at night. She was my closest kin since then.
As I grew older, my grandmother and I started to drift apart; I was getting busier with my school and friends. I started neglecting her and our conversation got lesser and lesser. Eventually, my grandmother started to fall sick and many illnesses caught up on her. She had dementia, sometimes she forgot who I am, so I find it very difficult to communicate with her and I did not know what to talk to her
It was five years ago when my grandmother got a stroke because she fell down in the toilet; she became bed ridden and she could not articulate her speech well anymore. There was hardly any interaction between us after she was bed ridden as I did not know how to talk to her. Not long after, she passed away. It was then when I realized that I had so many things which I have not told her and should have done for her. I regret not taking care of her when she was sick and old. I was very selfish and I took many things for granted. I knew that I had to change so that I would not have any regrets in the future. Ever since my grandmother passed away, I have changed for the better; I cherish every thing I have now in my life and making for use of every moment.
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Hi Val,
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about your story. I understand how you feel, especially at that time when your grandmother just passed away. I am glad that you have changed for the better.
Just a piece of advice that my dad always tell me; everything happens for a reason. Everyone enters your life for a reason. Cherish them, cherish the moment. :)
Thanks for sharing this experience, Valerie. You describe your evolving relationship with your grandmother in such a way that it evokes an emotional response from the reader. I can easily imagine little Ming Ching, smiling and lying in bed, listening to Grandma's story-telling. That's a wonderful image.
ReplyDeleteThen I can envision you as the teenager, and as the young adult, busy with a life beyond home. Next, I can sense how you felt when there was no longer an opportunity to tell your grandma how you felt.
All of this reminded me of my relationship with my own Grandma B. She also raised me when I was small. We also suffered social distance when I became a insensitive teenager. And when she had had a stroke, I remember eating a meal at her home, watching her struggle with the food, wit the very act of feeding herself, and I too was at a loss for what to say.
Your essay has evoked these feelings. Thank you, Valerie.