Ageing with Love

TW is fortunate to still have grandmothers on both his maternal and paternal sides with him. His paternal 'Ah ma' lives with him currently and through his interaction with her, I've learnt so much about about filial piety towards grandparents.


He was there every day when she was admitted into hospital for a hip operation after having a fall at home.

Ah ma and I when she was in Renci to recuperate after an operation. She is much  more alert and happy now.

He fought with an aunt who tried to convert her religion from Taoism to Christianity and caused her to have a mild stroke. He strongly believed that his grandmother should have the freedom to continue believing in whichever faith that had been with her for 80 over years.


He even clips her nails for her, because sometimes she'd cut until too short and bleed.


He is always thinking of ways to make her smile, even by hiding behind a pillar and playing 'hide-and-seek' every time he reaches home. He would call out, "Ah ma!" and then quickly hide behind a wall, and his grandma would frantically look around and say, "Come out!", and then we would appear, and she would have the happiest smile ever on her face. She must be thinking, 'these two grandchildren, sooo naughty!' but still plays along with us.


To her, family is everything. She devotes her life to taking care of her grandchildren, even now when she is less able to cook for them, she constantly reminds them to eat their meals. Waits up for her grandchildren to reach home, even till 11+pm when she normally sleeps at 9:30pm. She's just so ready to show care and concern, even to an 'outsider' like me. It's nice to talk with her, (although my Hokkien isn't very good), to see her funny facial expressions, and it makes me even happier to see her smile.





She is happily settled at home now, with a domestic helper solely dedicated to her. We also try to stay home as often as we can, so as to spend more time together, because such memories are precious, very very precious. We bring her out for meals occasionally, although we avoid taking her out to places without shade as the weather is so hot nowadays.


I wish for many many such years to come. And meanwhile, we are not going to take it for granted. :)