Some Random Memories

On Monday night my paternal grandmother passed away. She was lovingly called "Meme" by her children and grandchildren, but my sisters and I called her Popo. (Not sure why we were the only grandchildren to do so.) She was my last living grandparent and passed away at 83, I was surprised to learn she is barely 10 years younger than Athai, my maternal great-grandmother.

I was reading a message on Gerry's blog that said "She has been part of my life for as long as I lived.." and it really got me thinking about my earliest or even most recent memories of her. I wanted to record some of those memories before my brain fails me and forgets them all. It's funny but most of my memories of my grandparents come straight from my childhood -- I don't have very many pictures that record my time with them.

So here we go, in random order:

• Playing on her rooftop, trying to chase all of the chickens off and getting in trouble for it. I did manage to send 2-3 chickens to a 3-story fall to the ground below. My punishment: no eggs for dinner.
• Sitting through a 2-hour lecture at the Elgers house when I was in college, listening to her describe what type of husband I should be looking for.
• Swimming for hours in the backyard with Yona when I was 8, to be greeted by a piping hot bowl of noodle soup. Amazing how hungry you get after you swim!
• Walking around the fish market in Hong Kong trying really hard to tiptoe over puddles of dirty water and blood, getting yelled at for dragging behind.
• Waking up at 6am in Indonesia to go to the bazaar for bakmie ayam (dry chicken noodles), eating it in the tiny dark space hoping I don't see a rat scurry across the floor, going home to sleep in until 10, then waking up to a second serving of the noodles. :)
• Shopping the streets of Hong Kong and watching her get frustrated as I ignore her pleas to dress more like my older cousin, offering to buy me Versace jeans, and showing interest in Giordano basics instead.
• Enjoying beef noodle soup in an alleyway in Hong Kong with her and Steven until I saw how the street food vendor washed our bowls: simply dipped in a bucket of dirty water.
• Helping her in and out of the car whenever she visited the states. Cars here are much bigger than in Indonesia.
• Our huge dimsum family reunions in Monterey Park -- the rare occasions all of the aunts, uncles and cousins would come out together for a meal. (With minimal bickering)
• Sitting for hours and hours at the "gold store" with my grandma and grandpa, sweating my sanity away as I played silly games in my head to pass time. (How many bracelets can I count in a minute?)
  
• The bumpy bajai rides together up the street to the store which graduated to an Indonesian language lesson as she tried to get me to ride the bajai alone on days I woke up late.
• The look of pride and love masked by an irritated grunt whenever we tried to hug her.
  

And my most recent, one that still brings tears to my eyes when I picture it, the day I visited her in Indonesia a couple of years ago as she was recovering from a stroke. She was in a wheelchair and wasn't able to move or talk but just sat there staring at me with tears gushing through her eyes when she saw me walk in. I think looking into her eyes at that moment, I listened more to her than I ever have before.