About this user
*(Listen to "Guang Liang"
in the video to the right
as you read the story below,
and try not to cry!)*
——My grandfather was a good man.
He never hesitated to help anyone in need, be it his cousins, siblings, friends, or a stranger he hardly knew...
He always lent a helping hand to others.
When he was young, he used to treat the maids very well, and
he gave the foreign workers in his office money whenever he could.
It wasn't like he had to,
but he did.
That was my grandfather for you.
When I was young, he used to talk to me with a glass of tiger beer in his hand,
telling me about his past, about war, and about peace.
I remember in my primary school days, when he often sneaked me money to buy my favorite ice cream,
and how he used to talk to me about being a "nan zi han."
About studying hard and being a good boy.
Yet his words didn't mean much to me when I was young...
Just a year back, I looked at him and watched his health worsen.
He had to amputate his leg because of diabetes, and he lay on bed all the time, refusing to get out.
Yet, each and every time I went back to visit him, he could always find the energy to smile...
Then it got worse.
He eventually started to forget the people around him.
But on the days that he could remember me, he held my hand, and said "Ah, John...guai sun (good grandson)..."
In a matter of days, I watched his health get even worse.
He eventually lost the ability to speak.
Words came out the way words would come out of a baby...
He often tried to talk, but nobody could understand him.
Still, I can never forget that smile he had whenever I visited him.
Just a while ago, I watched him lying in the hospital bed.
He never blinked.
He never closed his eyes.
He couldn't move much.
All he could do was nod his head...
Yet when I told him I was leaving to go to school, and when I said bye,
he could nod his head. He could listen...
A few days later,
I watched him lying in bed.
He never blinked.
He never closed his eyes.
He hadn't eaten for days.
And it occurred to me.
He didn't dare blink.
He didn't dare close his eyes.
Because he didn't want to leave us.
I miss you grandpa.
I really do.
As I grew older, I stopped talking to you as much.
I don't even remember ever telling you that I loved you.
I often feel that some words are better left unsaid, but as I saw you a minute after you passed away on the hospital bed, I broke down.
Images flashed past me.
About how you would talk to me when I was younger.
About how you would smile whenever I visited you.
I remember you fetching me in your van when I was a young boy.
I remember how you loved eating taukwa.
When I visited you in the hospital,
I didn't' think that I would cry.
I knew that you would leave some day.
I thought I was prepared.
But when I saw you breathe your last breath, and as I walked past the coffin and looked inside,
there I saw you...
And that smile you often gave when I visited you flashed before me.
Things won't be the same without you.
Now when I visit grandma, I won't step into your room to say hello to you anymore.
But I know...
Grandpa was a good man.
And he's in heaven now,
watching over me and our family.
I love you gong gong...——
—John Khoo (Slightly modified by YuAhrRooser)
Country
United States
YuAhrRooser
uploaded