♥ Memories of Popo ♥

My popo was one of the longest and best memories that I had as far as i could remember. Popo is what i used to call my maternal grandmother. When i was small and my parents had to go to work, she was the one who took care of me. I spent most of my time during my childhood and schooling days at popo's house.

Back then, popo owned a cushion sofa. During my primary school days, one of my favourite activity was to stack up the cushions and pretend i'm going on a bus; the cushion being the stairs, the sofa being the bus=) ( i don't know why i like bus back then, but during secondary school when i had the chance to go to school by bus, i didn't like it at all..haha). Being the typical girl, i enjoyed playing " masak-masak" with my sis and cousins. At times, popo would make her own noodle with her noodle maker and we would wait for her to give us the leftovers so that we could pretend serving our guest with real food.

During my early secondary school years, my classes were in the afternoons so dad had to send us to popo house early morning before going to school. I missed the times how popo would trick us into waking up by telling us it's 1 hour later than the actual time. We knew her trick but we would always look forward to the breakfast she prepared for us. I missed her famous pancakes and fried nien gao. Popo was a great cook but you know what's the best part?? The best part is she knows what everyone likes and how everyone wants their food. She knows that i don't eat spicy stuff, so she always make her curry and nasi lemak sambal less spicy. She knows how i like my red bean soup, so whenever there's red bean soup, she would prepare santan for me.

One of my vivid memories of popo is popo and her yellow bicycle. When i was small and could fit in the basket, she would put me into the small basket in front of the bicycle and ferry me around. There were times we would patiently wait for her to come back on her bicycle from a dinner bringing us desserts which she would pack specially for us. When i was in standard 4, popo would send me to school using that bicycle.

Then there were memories of popo and her TV. Watching television was one of her favourite pastime. She would sit on her lazy chair, but after a while she would doze off and I would have to wake her up a few times. I love watching Taiwan X-Files back then but I was too afraid to watch it at home because mummy and daddy will go to bed early and i will be left watching it alone. So there will be occasional sleepovers at popo house just to watch tv because popo would sleep quite late at night. When winter solstice arrives, i would sleep over at her place and we would make tang yuan together while watching rented TVB tapes ( yeah, back then was tape, not like VCD and DVD now=p).

Popo spent a lot of time on the phone. She would call my mum and aunt and she would receive a lot of calls from her sisters and relatives as well and they could talk for hours. Whenever i got my results for major exams, she would be busy calling everyone telling them how well I did. She would always call everyone to ask if everything's going well. When i left home for matriculation and university, we communicated with each other occasional through the phone.

In 2006, her health began to deteriorate. She began to have frequent shortness of breath and prolonged cough. The doctor diagnosed her to have bronchiectasis and that was how i get to learn about bronchiectasis even before my clinical years. Even during the times she was sick, she was still busy taking care of everyone and remained cheerful. She was always the one uniting everyone together. It was only during one of her last hospital stay in Sunway that i saw her sadness and suffering in her eyes. It broke my heart seeing her that way.

Her health went on to deteriorate day by day and there was one time that i dreaded getting calls from home for fear that it's a call to deliver bad news to me. The day finally came when she had to leave us forever, it was at this very date exactly 2 years ago. Well, God was good to me because at least I get to keep her for 2 years after the initial diagnosis before God took her away and i was there to see her one last time before they unplug the life-support machine. It was my first experience of losing someone so dear to me. That very night she left us, I dreamt of her wearing her usual sarong, cooking my favourite dish and asking me to prepare containers because she wants to distribute it to my aunts and uncles. I was the first to dream of her and my aunts told me it's because she loved me the most; I don't know how significant dreams can be but that was really an honour and it really touched my heart.

Grandma, where are you now?

I'm calling you, can you hear me?

Can you see my hardwork and success?

I'm calling you, can you hear me?

Grandma, are you living well now?

Is there anyone taking good care of you?

Hopefully in the afterlife i will be able to call you grandma again

Quoted lyric from hokkien song Grandma's words

阿嬤的話

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYOEC1sxH-Y

Popo, i want to dedicate my success to you. Thank you for always giving me the best things in life . I will always miss you and love you forever ♥ ~