I was in North Carolina visiting my parents over the weekend when I happened upon this amazing photo of my mom when she was young. (She's on the far right.) My grandparents look so dashing, don't they? My poupou (grandmother) was a piano teacher, and my gonggong (grandfather) was some bigwig in the Taiwanese navy. It's pretty boggling to think about what a different world they lived in. I remember my dad once telling me a story about how, during the war, the ship my granddad was on sank, so he swam really far to get to shore. That didn't mesh with the granddad I knew, the tall, funny golfer who would slip out his dentures and wink at me. (Since he didn't speak much English, and I didn't speak much Chinese, that was his way of communicating with me.) Even that young, I could feel how in love they were. My granddad would shake his head and say "nag-ing" when my grandmom fussed at him, with a teasing look in his eye. And she would bat her lashes back. What a lovely memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment