A treasure map of the memories here, translated…
The Friendships Started Changing Back Then
I’d been estranged from my own older sister since I was very young, my parents took me and my younger brother to live in the city and worked, leaving my older sister back home to care for by my grandparents. I’d started taking care of my younger brother at the age of three, bathed him, dressed him, feeding him, as he’d gotten into troubles, I was the one, going to apologize for it, and when he got into fights, I’d become, his nurse, other than going to school, my primary duties revolved around caring for him, like I was, the eldest sister at home. How about my older sister? The land is vast in the countryside, she’d gone out to catch the frogs, to chase the dogs, to pick the fruits, she’d become, a child, running wild, and free. Apparently, she’d become, my grandmother’s only daughter, and I was, the child caretaker with all the hardships of life.
In middle school, we finally reunited as a whole family, she’d still, gone and done as she pleased, after school, she’d, dropped her backpack off, and went out, rode out on her bicycle, to hang with those outside of her school, and I’d, hurried home, to make the meals. Because my parents were too busy, making ends meet, they didn’t have time to watch her close, and, not being studious enough, she’d, managed through her second year of high school, then, she’d, dropped out. And my invisible eldest sister packed her things, and, flew off, with her boyfriend who was, ten years her senior.
For the decade that followed, the news of her would come back to us through her friends, she’d lost love, fallen in love again, lost love, then, fallen in again………like an animal that thrived on nothing but love; normally, she’d, only come home for the New Year’s, and had gotten into fights with my parents, and left on an angry note.
And the two of us, because her getting pregnant out of wedlock, started changing, she’d fallen in love with a married man, in this love that’s not blessed, the secretive life that’s, growing inside of her body, as her belly started growing bigger, my parents were, still in the dark about it. At this time, the afterbirth care center still wasn’t trendy, and I’d, decided to let bygones be bygones, and helped her with her month-long recovery, due to my overflowing maternal instincts, I’d taken three months’ leave of absence from work, packed a suitcase, with three guides in my hand, went to squat in her apartment, and, started on what I’d, never encountered before: things relating to births. Cooking, cleaning, that’s no big deal, I’d done it since I was a child, and, the meal plans, I got the recipes from the books to follow, but, that newborn infant was, so very, soft and fragile, bathing her became, a huge thing, needed to keep the waters out of her ears, can’t wet her bellybutton, but she’d not followed my instructions, and started on her own tae-kwon-do movements, and, after I bathed her, I’d, wrapped her up with a towel, making her into a Cabbage Patch kid, I’d cared for her, like she was, a real-life Barbie doll.
illustration from the papers online…
Children Born Out of Marriages & Outside, They’re All Precious Grandchildren
During my older sister’s month-long recovery after birth, the father of the child had been missing, could it be, that he’d, run out on my sister, after he’d had her, my sister, being very tough told me, “this child carries my last name, I’d given birth to her, I shall, raise her myself.” When her daughter was a little over one, did my parents learn, that they’d become, grandparents, the toddler was like frosting, she’d, melted my parents’ conservative minds, babies of marriage, or out of wedlock, they’re all, the same to them now.
One day, a tall, and handsome man showed up at my older sister’s house, so, this is, the father of her child, didn’t he run off, because he’d not wanted to pay the responsibilities for knocking up my older sister? In the days they’d lost connections, he’d sorted through the problems in his own marriage, and, as his ex-wife divorced him, one of the terms was that he shall, NEVER marry again, he’d agreed, and my sister had, no objections either. Being avant-garde in thought, the two of them lived as a family, without that piece of paper.
As the properly behaving child, I’d rebelled one day: the boyfriend without any parents, no families, from the very start my parents were, against him, but, I’d thought, that after awhile, my parents will note how hard working he’d been but, the days hadn’t gone by enough yet, and, the stork had, dropped off the package, we’d not have the reasons or the rights, to object, we can only, go to the courthouses, to sign the papers, while my parents, they still, didn’t have a single clue.
The same scene happened, again, it’s just, that my older sister took along her five-year-old tag-along to help me with my month-long recovery after birth now, my five-year-old niece, carried her doll like she was, its mother, looked like a mommy herself, and, she’d, connected with my son, and, whispered those stories into his ears, and, used the toys to make him laugh, fought the adults, for the rights to change his diapers, she’s, so proud of herself, but unfortunately, my young son could only, sleep and wake, he’d, ignored how his older cousin took good care of him.
My son is now a teenager, in his rebellious phase, he’d, ignored our orders, but, only followed every world that his older cousin told him, could it be, that in my month-long recovery afterbirth, he was, already, brainwashed by this miniature mommy of his?
Whilst my mother sighed, on how she was never there, to help us out in our month-after-birth recoveries, I actually felt grateful for her being absent, it’d, allowed my older sister and I, to get to know one another again, to help me erase that feeling of being unfairly treated as I was, growing up.
My brother-in-law and my sister were, never married, Confucius once said, “watch a man’s behaviors, and ye shall know if he’s, genuine.” They’d, kept true to their promises from way back then.
And so, this is the trials of this woman’s life, she’d fallen in love with a married man, gotten herself in a whole lot of trouble, and yet, with her younger sister’s being there for her, she was able to pull through, and as her younger sister needed her to be there, she was, there for her younger sister, to offer her the supports she’d needed, and that helped them patched up the broken bond between the two of them, as sisters.
Life, the Obstacle Course 