Last Saturday January 17, 2009, my Grandmother (whom we affectionately called "Popo" in Chinese) passed away peacefully in her sleep. She was 91, and had been living with cancer for about 2 years in a Toronto area nursing home. She is on my mother's side and is the last member of her generation within my extended family. She has 7 children, 11 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren. In total, including sons&daughters-in-laws, she leaves behind 32 of us.
Popo was a relatively quiet lady but very active into her later years. When the weather permitted, she would take long walks for hours on almost a daily basis. She had a few friends whom she would play mah-jong with on most days of the week. Despite her relatively quiet demeanor, she was a tiger when it came to mah-jong. Her sharpness of mind and quick agility in tile-placement made her second-to-none when it came to this favourite pastime of hers. I for one was never able to even come close to sitting at a table with her. She was much too fast for me. Popo was also a very good cook, yet to be surpassed by anyone in the family for her tasty soups, congee and sticky-rice wraps. Because of her highly selective palate, she ate very little whenever we went out. There were only a handful of restaurants that met her tastes, and even then she would only pick at a few dishes. For example, I remember her always leaving behind the meat from a steamed bbq-pork bun and only eating the bun.
Because of our language barrier, I never got to know Popo as well as I would have liked to. There is a wealth of family history and life experience that I have missed out on learning from her. She was a survivor of the WWII Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, where they terrorized and brutallly massacred a majority of the local population. By chance, my grandfather was away on a business trip at the time of the invasion, and as such his life was likely spared. Popo was left alone with her children to face the invading Japanese soldiers. Her 3 oldest sons were killed by the Japanese. Details of this piece of family history are sketchy, as neither she nor my grandfather ever spoke of it.
Popo immigrated from Hong Kong to Toronto in the early 1970's. She made her way through life in Toronto and eventually settled into the same neighbourhood for well over 30 years. She was a part of my childhood, having helped take care of my sister and I during our preschool years. I grew up with weekly visits with her and lots of home-cooked meals from her. I miss her soups and sticky-rice wraps already.
Good-bye Popo. I miss your smile. Things won't be the same without you. Rest in the peace of Christ.
ted, i'm so sorry to hear about your loss. thank-you for sharing a bit of your grandmother's life with us.
Posted by: Anna | 01/23/2009 at 11:00 AM