not my photo…
The littlest things that brings joys to your elderly grandmother’s life, translated…
My maternal grandmother works hard, to keep her appearances, mom once told me, that while she was still a younger woman, she was the most fashionable woman in her village, with a Chinese-style dress, and her high heels too.
With six daughters, my grandmother would have a Chinese-style dress made for herself every time one of her daughter marries, and, the total of six Chinese-style dresses were all, stored away, neatly, inside her closets; there were also, multiple scarves, which dress goes with which scarf, my grandmother has her own beliefs of the rules and beauty too.
not my photograph…
Later on, my maternal grandmother fell ill, and came to live with us for long-term. She’d lost her ability to speak due to her stroke, but we knew, that she’d still loved getting dolled up, mom would often wheel her out to shop, and although, she can no longer wear her high-heels, but, as my mom picked out a softer red leather pair of shoes, it’d still made my grandmother grinned ear to ear.
One year on her birthday, I’d gone to the cosmetic shops, and managed to find the color of nail polish she used to put on, a dark pink, with a pearly glow to it. As I’d gone home, and put the nail polish onto her nails, she couldn’t speak, but, raised her hands high up in the air with excitement and happiness, and her eyes twinkled too. At that moment, we’d just, gazed at each other and smiled, but, I knew, she’d wanted to say to me, “Good grandchild, thanks so very much, I look very pretty”.
So, this, is a prominent memory that you’d carried of your grandmother, after she’d fallen ill, she’d still wanted to keep up with the appearances, and so, you and your mother had, helped her look pretty like she used to, and, she felt your love, and although she’d lost her ability to speak, she’d expressed her gratitude and how happy she was in other ways that you can understand.
Life, the Obstacle Course 