i'm lost in translation

Happy Birthday Grandma

My Grandmother is turning 82 this weekend. Can you even fathom turning eighty two year's old?

Unfortunately, my grandmother's history is muddled to me. My mother released drips and drabs of her story to me but I never had a clear idea of the real story. What I do know is that my grandmother was born in 1922 in Taichung, Taiwan and that because she was a girl - she was given to another family as a girl to learn to be a seamstress. Other than that, I know that she married my grandfather and had five children with him.

When I was born my grandmother came to the United States to help my mother raise me. My mother was the oldest and the first to begin a family. Since then she's only left for a couple of years to live with my uncles for a while but she didn't get along with her daughter-in-law's - so she returned to stay with us.

For thirty years my grandmother has lived in the United States - far before Asian communities started to form in the outer regions of New York. She has a more active social life in her eighties than she's had for years. And frankly, she looks damn good for a woman in her eighties.

So, what is the secret? My grandmother is still strong and active in her eighties. My mother passed away in her early fifties. Hopefully as I start to learn Chinese she can pass on her "ancient Chinese secrets".

My boyfriend and I will be having a cake on Sunday to celebrate another year for my grandmother. And the little adult day care center will have a party with all the other Chinese oldsters on Monday. Grandma and her little friends at the Day Care Center have been having little rumbles with the segregated Caucasian seniors. The other day grandma came home with a Polaroid of her and a friend with their arms around one another - I noticed another person scratched out in the background. When I asked my grandmother about the scratched out person she replied "No good. No Like." Now THAT is what I love about my grandmother.

posted by Jin @ 3:43 PM