How strange, these, affinities in life are, translated…
The day after “She, Who’d Carried the Photo of Her Deceased Husband Everywhere She’d Gone” came out, I’d gotten a call from a former classmate who’d excitedly told me, that I was, writing about her aunt, “My aunt was so ecstatic, she wants to meet you, she’s inviting you to her office for a cup of coffee.”
As I took my in-laws, and meet up with the elderly woman again, she’d hugged me hard, said, “Thanks for writing the article, it’s, amazing! We are connected, you can also call me ‘auntie’ if you like too!”, my mother-in-law started chit-chatting, and my father-in-law also invited her to dig up the yams at their vegetable garden up in the hills too; they’d shared their younger experiences of working hard to make a living, and, their lives now after the retirement, and, there was, so much gratitude talking of the every day goings on in their lives.
come visit me soon!!! Not my photo…
The elderly woman who’s an entrepreneur is living a simple life, she’s, well-matched up to my in-laws hardworking mannerisms, these three elderly, with their ages adding up to over two-hundred-fifty years, became the best of friends right away, before she’d left, the elderly woman took my mother-in-law’s hand in hers, said sorrowfully, “After my husband died, I’d not kept contact with my friends, do come over to my place to chat when you have the time, we’ll be, elderly best friends.”
A week later, as my classmate led the way, we’d, gone to her aunt’s place. This stone-hinged mansion was very warm, with the photos of my classmate’s aunt decorating the walls, at the age of ninety, she remembers everything still, and can tell us about the time and the date, and the places where each photo was taken; inside the glass cabinets, were the gifts from her children and grandchildren, and, she’d, labeled each and every item.
Auntie loved to sing, she’d put on the videos of her birthday celebrations, fluent in Japanese, her voice is amazing when she sang, she’d invited my mother-in-law to sing along, but, my mother-in-law told her shyly, “I don’t know how to sing!” Auntie, replied, smiling back at her, that she will put on the Taiwanese songs so they can sing together next time they visited.
Just hanging out with friends here, not my photograph still…
As the three elderly talked of the joys they had, working in the fields, Auntie had a thought, she’d wanted to take us, to visit the orange farm she has at Yangming Mountain, but, it was getting late, so, we’d not gone, seeing that cherry tree in her yard, she’d, invited us back to her house, as the season for the cherry blossoms arrives.
It’s hard, to imagine, that three elderly people who didn’t even KNOW one another at the start, through the newspapers, working as a medium, were now, the best of friends, we are all, grateful of all of this.
This, is how connections still happens, without ourselves knowing, this elderly woman was able to find two more new friends with whom she’d connected with now, through an article about her, and, the writer was the one, who’d made all of this possible, because she’d written the article, that led to her in-laws, becoming friends, with the woman she’d written about.
Life, the Obstacle Course 