As the Grapes Ripened

The values her mother had, instilled in her as a young child, translated…

A short while back, I saw a bundle of round and voluptuous grapes, although I knew it wasn’t cheat, but, I’d still placed it into my cart. For me, who’d never bought anything overpriced, the reason why I’d acted oddly was because the moment I’d touched those grapes, memories of my childhood came flying back.

A little over forty years ago, my father was originally a commuting government worker, and later on, he was assigned a dorm at work. That was, a row of houses next to each other, and the spaces and how the complexes were all set up differently, my father was assigned to a house with two bedrooms, one bathrooms, with a small patch out front, enough to be called a “yard”. Ever since, this small place were, occupied by eight people, my grandmother who’d had stroke, my parents, and the six of us. The two bedrooms, one was given to my eldest sister to sleep in with my grandmother, the other room, set up with four mats, enough for the six of us, to sleep right next to each other in.

look at how beautiful the fruits are…not my photo…

Although this, was, an overcrowded place, but I’d loved those grape vines in the yard. The green vines climbed all over the racks, blocked out the scorching sun of the summertime. I was very young, didn’t need to go to school yet, and, I’d done nothing every single day. Just stared at the grapes growing on the vines, feeling very satisfied. But, I couldn’t, fend of my need to get a taste, used all the strengths in my body, took leaps upward, attempted, to break the grapes off the vines, and, of course, all I had a taste of, were those sour and stale tastes.

Day after day, the round and large grapes finally, started, hanging downward. There were, several bundles of red grapes in the midst, and that, was when I’d realized, that although the vines looked next to identical, they’re actually, different species. My mother did love me, saw how I looked so hungry and longing, she’d, extended her hand, and plucked down a few of the fatty grapes, peeled back the skins, then, put them into my mouth. That aromatic sweetness was, something I will, NEVER forget. After a few days, there was an older guy who came to the house, my mother told me, that he was a student from the nearby agricultural community college, that he’d been given a chance to practice trimming off the grapevines. As he’d cut the bundles off one by one, my mother told him to take the ripened bundles down too, to take some home to his own mother.

As the older guy left, my mother saw how bad I’d felt, no longer having the grapes to me, she’d took me into her arms, said, “Your dad takes care of the eight of us, life isn’t easy, but, the guy who’d come, had it even harder than we did………”, there’s that saying of how “if we don’t look out for ourselves, then, we couldn’t live right”, but, my mother was, such a selfless person, would rather that her own children have less, but, giving more to others.

from the papers…

Being so young, I’d watched, as the grapes ripened on the vines, and, I’d also, received, the wisdoms I’d carried, throughout my whole life.

So, this, is the lesson of the mother to her young, and, the mother is extremely kind and very empathetic toward others, and, this left a deep impression in her young child’s life, and, the child grows up into a woman, and carried the values her mother taught to her.