I can talk just about anything and everything with my Third Auntie...
My Third Auntie is the BEST!
After I reconnected with Third Auntie
She and I became very close over the phone.
We talked about many things.
She would often fill me in
on how her life was
when she was a little girl living with
my Grandmother and Grandfather.
I concluded that Third Auntie
had a very happy childhood.
She was loved by my grandparents,
just like the way my grandparents loved us.
She also told me about a similar experience in her life
about how she and her siblings would hide
underneath our grandparents' bed, and
helped themselves to the cookies and goodies.
I told her we were doing the same thing too.
In our generation,
we helped ourselves to the goodies
underneath Grandma's bed as well.
Unfortunately, my Second Aunties' boys (our cousins)
were caught red-handed by Grandma.
She called them out, “Wah!!! Lay-day barn Mah-Lau-Je!
Lay sig-sai ngor-dee beng-gone!!!!”
(Wah!!! You bunch of little monkeys!
You're eating up all my cookies!!!)
Third Auntie and I had a good laugh at that!
Another cousin of mine, a woman named Esther,
whom I have reconnected about two years ago,
told me Grandma would always
knuckle-knock her on her head.
She says she doesn't know why.
She thinks perhaps Grandma
knocked on her head because she thought
she was behaving like a tomboy.
I was taken by surprise because
I cannot imagine my dear Grandma
would knuckle-knock on anyone's head,
especially a little girl like Esther.
Grandma had never knocked on my head, ever!
Grandma only loved me and rescued me
whenever I was being scolded or punished
by Mom for unknown reasons.
I never knew the reasons why
I was being punished.
Sometimes I was beaten with
a duster stick by my mother.
The most deadly blows were the ones that landed
on the joints and knuckles of my tiny fingers.
That really hurt, and all I could do was to cry out,
“I won't do it again...I won't do it again.”
But I did not even know what I had done.
Oh, there was this time when I presented
Mommy with a very bad report card.
She scolded me so harshly that I fainted.
Grandma rushed into her room to rescue me.
She told Mommy that she should not be so harsh on me.
After that, Mommy had pretty well left me alone.
I would be coming home from school,
and Grandma would call me into her room.
Grandma would give me cookies,
and sometimes other goodies to eat.
Then I would do my homework
in Grandma's room.
Grandma was a good grandma,
but unfortunately,
not all her grandchildren
would agree with me in unison.
That is why I have written a poem before
about the many versions of grandmothers.
I think all grandchildren in the world
would agree with me too.
Third Auntie and I talked about many things.
She shared what is missing inside my head
about our large family during the time
I was living away from home with my mom's parents.
Sometimes, the information she shared with me
during the time I was too young to remember
would make me burst into laughter; yet,
other times, it would make me feel sad as well.
But all-in-all,
I am so happy every time I talk with my Third Auntie!
She is 96 years old now,
the only living sibling of my Daddy's.
She told me she and her other 7 siblings,
including my uncle,
all loved my Daddy very much,
and I thanked her for loving my Daddy!
I told her about a dream I had
after my Daddy passed away.
In that dream, I saw two of my dead uncles,
my other dead aunties, and my Daddy too.
They were all partying at a place,
which I think, must be heaven,
and they were all very happy!
Third Auntie was glad I had that dream.
Anyway, I just want to share with you
about my Third Auntie and my family.
Perhaps, more fun will come along
when I talk with my Third Auntie later.
WHAT A MARVELOUS SHARING, SANDIE. THERE IS NOTHING LIKE HAPPY MEMORIES FROM CHILDHOOD TO BRIGHTEN UP OUR DAY. THANKS FOR SHARING. LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...HIS+INSPIRATIONS
I think you are going a good thing to spend time talking with your Third Auntie. You both can learn so much from each other, especially you can learn so much more about your large family, and then your auntie can learn more about your generation, the family she left behind. You both should feel blessed. God makes miracles every day. Your Grandmother sounds like a very good grandma.
It's universal: Grandparents are wiser and more loving than are parents. The world would be greatly diminished without them. Parents get a second chance at kindness when they become grandparents. That's the cycle of life. Great story!
The word "Steal" which I used was only a figure of speech. We never had to "steal" anything in my childhood. Everything was given to us. But since you have pointed it out I will correct it by using the words "helped ourselves" which I think now is more appropriate. Thank you so much for pointing it out!
I suspect my Grandmother knew the children would be hiding underneath her bed eating the stuff out of there anyway, since this had happened as well in my Auntie's generation. My Daddy had 7 other siblings. They all had fun doing the same thing we did.
To me, the word "Steal" is to take something that is not mine without permission, so I had used it. I can't remember whether or not I was hungry, but it seemed a lot of fun at the time to eat the cookies. There were many other good stuff there as well... like the dried shrimp and scallops, the abalones, which normally were used to cook with congee and soup, and the sheets of seaweed from Japan (must have been brought to my grandma by Third Auntie), but we ate them dried anyway. The abalones were tough, I had a hard time chewing them. We ate those things just for fun. Grandma wasn't really mad at us, she knew we were all doing it anyway.
What wonderful memories. And I'm glad you're back in touch with your third aunt. And your cousin, too. As we age and lose our elder relatives, they become more precious.
This past year, I lost my last two aunts, 93 and 97, both wives of my dad's brothers. The first wrote a one-page, but very detailed, letter about her 7 children every year. Her son's wife has taken over that family duty and I'm very grateful to hear from them once a year. The other was always so kind right up until the last time I saw her when another AD author went to visit my last uncle and her about 4 years ago. He died 2 years ago one month short of 102.
I'm sorry that you were so hungry you had to steal. My mother always kept a large coffee jar full of fresh cookies for my twin brother and I when we came home from school. We would grab a handful and then take off and do whatever we were doing after school munching cookies as we went. Stealing was something I never did… Probably because I didn't have to.
Thank you so much for your comment! I think at my Auntie's age, I would just talk about the happier events with her. She, too, shares with me her fonder memories. I think it is better that way. Should either one of us leave this world, we would leave with love and fond memories inside us.
This book has been eight years in the making. It is mostly a jumble of thoughts written down in old spiral notebooks and hidden in the bottom drawer underneath various manuals for software packages and hardware long since turned obsolete.
The story of Ron Hull, paralyzed in a surgical accident back in the dreaded polio epidemic days, was able to overcome most of the stigma and stereotypes and "pass for normal" for 30 years. As Ron's paralysis increased gradually through the next 20
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Gav
The word "Steal" which I used was only a figure of speech. We never had to "steal" anything in my childhood. Everything was given to us. But since you have pointed it out I will correct it by using the words "helped ourselves" which I think now is more appropriate. Thank you so much for pointing it out!
I suspect my Grandmother knew the children would be hiding underneath her bed eating the stuff out of there anyway, since this had happened as well in my Auntie's generation. My Daddy had 7 other siblings. They all had fun doing the same thing we did.
To me, the word "Steal" is to take something that is not mine without permission, so I had used it. I can't remember whether or not I was hungry, but it seemed a lot of fun at the time to eat the cookies. There were many other good stuff there as well... like the dried shrimp and scallops, the abalones, which normally were used to cook with congee and soup, and the sheets of seaweed from Japan (must have been brought to my grandma by Third Auntie), but we ate them dried anyway. The abalones were tough, I had a hard time chewing them. We ate those things just for fun. Grandma wasn't really mad at us, she knew we were all doing it anyway.
Sandie :)
This past year, I lost my last two aunts, 93 and 97, both wives of my dad's brothers. The first wrote a one-page, but very detailed, letter about her 7 children every year. Her son's wife has taken over that family duty and I'm very grateful to hear from them once a year. The other was always so kind right up until the last time I saw her when another AD author went to visit my last uncle and her about 4 years ago. He died 2 years ago one month short of 102.
I'm sorry that you were so hungry you had to steal. My mother always kept a large coffee jar full of fresh cookies for my twin brother and I when we came home from school. We would grab a handful and then take off and do whatever we were doing after school munching cookies as we went. Stealing was something I never did… Probably because I didn't have to.
Ron
Thank you so much for your comment! I think at my Auntie's age, I would just talk about the happier events with her. She, too, shares with me her fonder memories. I think it is better that way. Should either one of us leave this world, we would leave with love and fond memories inside us.
Sandie :)
Regis. 🙏🌸