In memory of my grandparents

Published by Cameron Tham on

My Nai Nai was a very mem­o­rable char­ac­ter. She did things her own way and had an amus­ing out­look on life. I would hear sto­ries about how she was a tomboy grow­ing up, going out into the pat­ty fields, and hav­ing fun with the oth­er chil­dren in her vil­lage. As she grew up, she brought those quirky traits with her. An enjoy­able and ran­dom mem­o­ry that I have of her would be the ran­dom catch­phras­es she would have. She would just walk around a shop and rate items that she found based on the “nois­es” she heard from them and giv­ing me an exam­ple by emu­lat­ing the sounds that she understood.  My Ye Ye was prob­a­bly the most Bud­dha-like per­son I have ever met. Maybe not the whole spir­i­tu­al part but def­i­nite­ly that “fat hap­py” part. He was a strong per­son, phys­i­cal­ly and men­tal­ly.  He used to tell me sto­ries about his strength and that he could car­ry peo­ple on his shoul­ders like it was noth­ing. I remem­ber hear­ing sto­ries like this from both my Ye Ye as well as my Nai Nai. Though I think his men­tal for­ti­tude was best shown in the last few months before his pass­ing. He had suf­fered from his sec­ond stroke and been diag­nosed with the Virus, yet he was still able to laugh and joke around when I called him. I think that the two of them were both more men­tal­ly strong than any­one that I will ever know. I remem­ber when my Ye Ye had suf­fered from his stroke, my Nai Nai would not leave his side. She would make sure to be there for him no mat­ter what. Their unbreak­able bond is what I think I will remem­ber most about them. Even in times of much strife, their bond remained, and they were there for each oth­er. It just pains me that they couldn’t be there for each oth­er when they passed.
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