The Joys in Becoming a Grandmother

The passages of life, changes in mindset in becoming a grandmother, translated…

These couple of years, all of my former classmates around me had all become, grandmothers, although people are marrying late, but, no matter how late, you will, become, a grandmother eventually. After becoming a grandma, you really, DO behave like one. Like Jen who’d cared too much about her weight, he’d loved ranting about her son whose mind was set on staying single, to the point that we’d all gone deaf, until one day, she’d finally, shut up, and handed us boxes of the month-old celebration sticky rice, her figure also “added up” too, she’d gained a double chin, looked like a grandmother. And, Yun, whose the one who refused to admit to aging, is looking forward to her nine-months old grandson to start calling her grandma, she couldn’t wait for the world to know her brand new status.

illustration from the papers online…

Yun loved growing her hair long, and would often dye her hair so completely, that there’s, not a strand of white that showed, she said, that she’d hated how there’s this color contrast difference on her head when she’d gotten her hair dyed, like we4aring an ill-fitted hat, and it’d showed how old she was. She’d loved tying her hair back in a ponytail, dressed chic, looked like the younger generations of women, and she’d loved hearing, “You hadn’t changed one bit”, and the like, and if on the MRT, someone with the sharpened eyes made her age, and let up the seat, she’d become, displeased.

On our most recent gatherings, Yun broke ALL our glasses. She’d trimmed her hair short, with the pudding head that’s lost color, came lately, she’d smiled and told that she was playing with her grandchild, that she’d forgotten we had a lunch date, she’d not even put on her lipstick, with the wreak of milk from her grandson all over her, “Don’t be so surprised”, Yun smiled sweetly, and told us how her young grandson was so attached to her, “Every time I’d held him, he’d stopped crying.”, like having a grandson meant that nothing else would matter. And, her grandson didn’t know any better, would pull on her long hair, and so, she’d, trimmed it short; and because there’s never enough time to play with her grandson, she’d not found the time to get her hair dyed. “It doesn’t matter now, I’m already, a grandmother, how can I still appear young?”, Yun would excuse herself now.

As for Jen, who was always a worrywart, it was hard for her to gain weight. As her son approaches forty, he’d still, not made any moves, she was just about to give up, at the start of last year, her son told her, that he wasn’t even seeing anybody yet, then, at the end of the year, there came, a baby granddaughter for her to hold, she was so happy that she’d not stopped laughing, and, bragged about how her young granddaughter looked exactly like her, although her son and daughter-in-law didn’t live with her, she’d given up on the quieter days, and fought for the opportunity to babysit during the day time, watching the infant grow by the day, she’d become like a balloon too, getting bigger. Jen said, that her baby granddaughter loved hearing her heart, and it’s like carrying along a hot furnace, keeping the cold away this winter. “It is really a blessing, being a grandmother.”, Jen who’d gotten the tastes of grandmotherhood is, urging her daughter-in-law to have another child.

Getting older, having the opportunity to have the grandchildren to play with, it’s, such a blessing. When we were younger, we’d worked hard, and there’s that regret of not being there for our own young, and, having grandchildren gave us those days of old back again. To this very point, it seemed, that all of my former classmates are all very, satisfied with the brand new title of grandmother, and they are all very fitting grandmothers too, perhaps, this, is the best kind of a return, that the years gave back to us all, as we are getting older.

And so, this, is the joys of being a grandparent, because you’d lost time with your own young from before, you’d needed to work, to provide for them, you’d missed out on the time to be with them, and now, you’re elderly, and, your children are having children, and you feel complete, for having your grandchildren around you, to play with.