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| Hands, grandmother and granddaughter (that's my undignified summer tan against grandma's "fair Shanghai skin") |
My grandmother loved to declare that Hagrid can tell the good guys from the bad. Twinkle in her eye, grandma greeted Hagrid with club soda crackers hidden in her pockets every time we visited. "See," she would note proudly each time Hagrid bounded straight to her and lingered in her pockets for special treats from great grandma, "He knows I'm a good guy."
I think about these words now when I visit with her spirit, usually in the quiet moments of the early morning before I have risen from bed to face the list of tasks that await me, and often in the moments before I drift off to sleep at night. Again and again mini conversations with my grandma. Sweet nothings, silly banterings, ordinary moments that now, in her absence, are everything.
She liked to take my hand in hers from time to time, telling me that I had a prominent and dignified forehead, a lucky nose, and uneven eyes. Yes, the uneven eyes that the fortune teller noticed when she took me to Wong Tai Sin Temple when I was still a baby. According to the fortune teller, my uneven eyes signified a proclivity for rabble rousing. She loved to tell me that detail again and again.
These days, every time I get a parking space where it is impossible to get parking, I think of the delight grandma took in declaring that I had a lucky nose. I give thanks to the parking gods and goddesses, to my lucky nose, and I think of grandma's quiet ways of letting me know she loved me.
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| Grandma and Hagrid enjoying the afternoon rays, November 30, 2013 |
What a beautiful piece that reflects your closeness with your grandmother. I love the pictures: your joined hands, Hagrid and your grandmother. Oh boy! The uneven eyes a sign of your "proclivity for rabble rousing." I love how you give thanks to the "parking gods and goddesses."
ReplyDeleteYour posts about your grandmother are making me think quite a bit about my own grandmother, who we lost 11 years ago last Wednesday. It sounds as if your grandmother was a huge part of your life and helped to shape the person you've become. Grandmothers are truly grand.
ReplyDeleteI love the revelations of your personality and your grandmother's, and how these build your relationship with her for us readers. Your obvious love and emotion is carried by your words!
ReplyDeleteRABBLE ROUSER!! Yup. I agree with your grandmother. She was exactly right on. I love these remembrances. You are able to keep her as a vibrant, important force in your life. Reading these moments makes me miss my own grandmother and is moving me in the direction to perhaps write a few slices about her.
ReplyDeleteRABBLE ROUSER!! Yup. I agree with your grandmother. She was exactly right on. I love these remembrances. You are able to keep her as a vibrant, important force in your life. Reading these moments makes me miss my own grandmother and is moving me in the direction to perhaps write a few slices about her.
ReplyDelete