So Much More To Say
Ahhhh, what a long day it has been. I mean, a pleasant long day. How nice if could extend perhaps, preserve good times.
Am finally sitting right here staying connected to the internet since left for grandma’s in JB on Tuesday morning. Strange enough, I hadn’t longed for internet access for more than 3 days!! That’s a record, mind you! I swear I hadn’t even thought of my emails for days… Maybe I did on the first day arriving but after a few rounds of good catching-ups with my cousins, checking emails was the last thing on my mind. Hmmm, I was hoping to stay laptop-free until Monday, somehow…… Oh well, addiction came right back when I stepped in my room this late afternoon right upon arrival. It’s like a curse…
Anyways, the lil’ trip back to gramma’s was fab! Not only had I managed to see my lovely gramma I got to finally visit granpappy on All Souls Day. That was pretty emotional. Long he has gone to the arms of God but his presence still lingers. It all sounds very cliche but that’s really how all of us feel. Good lord knows how much he is missed by the loved ones he left behind… I saw gramma weeping softly again that late morning at his grave. My nose felt funny and was going to cry. I guess she will never stop thinking of him until the day she unites with him at Up Above. Yes, the love is not the deep you understand.
Maybe, to honour this great love, I’d like to tell the story of these two extraordinary souls. You see, long long time ago, long before World War II, there were many people fleed China to what was called Malaya. Two of the many people were my beloved grandparents. Love just didn’t blossom the way it does now. I mean, you didn’t get a say who you wanted to marry nor was there a what you call fall in love and head into marriage. You married who your parents wanted you to get married with, by hook or by crook. In short, arranged marriage was what it was.
That was how grandpa and grandma got married. I remember pulling a grim face when grandpa unfolding their story. Eeeeuw, I just couldn’t accept such marriage. I mean, where was the romantic bit?!! I remember telling him that I’d run away from home if my mum were to marry me off like that. He just laughed and said that’s how most of the people got married during that ancient time. Unbeliavable… Hold on, my grandpa told me something even more bizarre. It was too much for me to believe… How does a young maiden married to a rooster sound to you? Yes, a human-animal union… Gosh, just how sick in the head those people were?! I better stop thinking about that…
Anyway, back to the story… I think among other 20 grandchildren my grandparents have, I must be the most curious one. I shot grandpa one thousand and one questions I could possibly think of that day. After all, he hadn’t told his love stories so freely ever and it’s not like an everyday opportunity to get him revealed some of the juicy bits to his grandchildren. According to him, he had never spoken to gramma before the marriage. He had a fruit stall just right in front of gramma’s and he said gramma was a stunning beauty whom would hide behind the curtain just to steal glances of him everyday. I was laughing so hard and it hurt when grandpa walked up the the window suddenly and demonstrated with the curtain how grandma used to do. Good gracious, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Grandpa must be in best than better mood that evening.
I turned to my blushing gramma and seeked confirmation. She of course denying that, instead complaining grandpa was the stalker, not her. I think they were both attracted to each other… There must be some truth in what they said. Come to think of it, it wasn’t a forced marriage since there had been mutual attraction. Well, I am glad that the two of them got married and gave birth to 11 wonderful children and 21 fab grandchildren. Through thick and thin they stood together. I know gramma lost a part of her when she first learned about grandpa’s illness. It’s cancer. Damn cancer! There goes her heart, wrenching and breaking when grandpa left for heaven. There were tears, lots and lots of them. After more than half a century of marriage, so long and goodbye to her one and only first and true love.
This is the least I can do. To celebrate and remember their great love, a holy union in the name of god. Do you think souls in heaven understand english at all? I mean, they should be able to understand all languages, shouldn’t they? Maybe grandpa is reading right now. Maybe he’s having a few chuckles too…
That’s the seemingly ordinary but great story of two people I love the most in the entire universe.
Now I shall resume to the parts I enjoyed the most throughout the short stay at gramma’s. They have to be playing with my youngest cousin, sylvia. aged 2+ and also talking through the night with Cecilia and Michael, another 2 cousins I grew up with, aged 21 and 16 respectively. Lil’ Sylvia is such a smart little darling. Already she’s learning so many new words, crocodile, butterfly, penguin, tiger, lion and the list goes on. I’d have thought she wouldn’t recognise me since I hadn’t been seeing her for god knows how long and therefore didn’t expect her to warm up to me. Guess what, I had her at hello 
hahahaa… sounds too Jerry Maguire for you?! *wink* The next thing I knew, she was like a lil’ koala bear clinging onto me and started singing happy tune. Gosh, I am already missing her and her chubby face!! She even said she likes me. She likes her cousin Ade 
Time flies by so quickly that have lost track of cousins’ ages. Suddenly they seemed few inches taller and some cracking voices already. Three of us, Cecilia, Mike and I shared a same room for the past few days. It’s never been so fun. Though the age gap is wide between Mike and I, we still talked like old pals. He told me he has started working as part timer during his school holiday. How very grown up of him! Now he knows money doesn’t come easy. He is also very tall, thanks to basketball and his lovely cousin ME. I was the one encouraging, if not forcing him to take up basketball. I had a crush on a basketball player last time in highschool and I thought basketball players are cool and wanted him to be one… I must also tell you something really insulting. You know my cousin, a leggy lad, Mike I was talking about? A friend of my aunt came to visit. She had him mistaken as a 18-year-old while was mistaken as a school girl. How very insulting! When I told her I had graduated from university and am now working, her face turned into some funny expression, quizzical it is. Arrrghhh…
I also happened to get my loooong hair trimmed yesterday. Was toying with the idea to get my long hair with not-so-straight-fringes permed. Chicked out the minute walked into the hair saloon and got a hair cut instead. I wasn’t prepared to let some hair stylist I didn’t know to do such big change on my hair. NO WAY, not in zillion years to come. Anyway, I must have looked very arrogant when I stepped into the tiny little cosy saloon. The guy who was doing my hair later told me I did look like a snob or prissy princess. There goes the first impression… Oh well, what can I say.. That’s kinda standard first impression I get most of the time. But, the next thing, he was talking non-stop to me once I started to make a few ermm, funny remarks. Funny? Well, that’s what he said.
5 minutes into conversation, I already got asked the STANDARD questions. ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ ‘Why not? Are you kidding me?!!!!’ ‘Ahh, I know, it must be your high requirements, huh?’ ‘Oh c’mone, don’t tell me no one going after you?’ ‘Did anyone tell you you look like some HK actress??’ Oh no, not again. Not the whole I-do-not-look-like-her debate again… Finally got him stop looking at me and comparing me to the likes of HK movie stars, he asked THE QUESTION again. That’s when I thought I was cool when I told him, ‘well, unfortunately, I am not someone who falls in love because I want to but because I can’t help to.’ That really made him shut up for the rest of the 20 minutes. I mean, at least he didn’t ask why again. Overall, he was a pleasant lad. He said he would be waiting for my next visit… Errm, I don’t know if am gonna make a return trip there anytime in the future.
