My Paternal Gran
Posted by Ling on February 21, 2007
Philippians 4:13 - I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.
My paternal gran suffered a stroke, fell over and is now in hospital, and has contracted pneumonia.
Doctors have told us to prepare for the worst.
My parents are away to Hong Kong.
It’s an extremely sad time for the family. I find myself struggling to hold back my tears in church, at work and around family and friends.
I love my Gran.
She has taught me 2 important lessons in life :-
1. When I was younger (about 4-5 yrs old), I asked Gran whether I was adopted because my Mum used to smack me all the time for NO reason! (my Mum had anger management issues back then). Gran reassured me that I was from my Mum’s belly. “But it hurts when Mum hits me…” My Gran, the smart woman, told me to pretend to FAINT the next time my Mum smacked me, so that would make her stop. Wow, I thought it was a brilliant idea…. Only problem being, I had never fainted before so I didn’t know how to faint…and then I thought more and more about it and realised that my Mum is even smarter than my Gran and my Mum would most likely figure out that I was pretending and the punishment for that would be 10 times worse than getting smacked. And so, I never complained about being smacked anymore and in fact, I developed a hard skin; so hard, that it didn’t hurt as much anymore. Yup, Gran basically made me realise that I should never try to outsmart the woman who gave birth to me; but to love and to respect her.
2. Gran met the boyfriend last year when we went back to Hong Kong. Mr Geek is the only boyfriend I have introduced as my boyfriend to any of my family (the other boyfriends have only been “guy friends”). I was trying to impress my Gran with how smart, talented and cute Mr Geek is. While all my other aunties and uncles were ooh-and-aahing over “Doctor Geek”, my Gran took me aside.
In a typical loud Chinese manner, she said :-
“It doesn’t matter if he is rich or clever. Dump him if he ever, ever, ever swears at you!”
“He doesn’t swear Gran!”
“No, but if he calls you names e.g. ***a reel of chinese expletives***, you have to dump him!”
As my Gran’s explosive outburst captured the attention of those around us, I just gave her a big hug for looking out for me (I am the firstborn of her eldest son) She taught me to take no sh*t from any man! So watch it, Mr Geek!
Sadly, I am dreading the phone call to inform us that she’s gone…
Looking after my 3 brothers (all under 15 years of age) plus working in the dental practice plus running the household plus semi-working in the takeaway is slowly zapping my energy…
How do single working mothers do it??
Thank God I have Him.
Thank God Sis 4 can cook and lives in Glasgow (Sisters 2 and 3 are in Dundee)
Thank God the Principal at my work is understanding as I have to finish work early to pick up the kids from school
I just pray that Gran will find Him before she leaves us…
ansypansy said,
Amen. I agree Ling. God will listen to your prayers.
What a sweet sweet post about the two things your gran taught you in life… Chin up ling ling… everything happens for a reason. Keep praying… x
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enoch_hlh said,
I agree too – dump him if you hear him swear (to you or anyone else)!
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thepianogenius said,
i will pray for ur Gran this morning.
maybe u should also get serious with your bros and explain that they NEED to help out round the house and you’re very, very busy. i think they’re old enough to understand.
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weemel said,
might not mean much but *big hugs* hang in there ling ling!!!
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thebiggee said,
Chin up girl…
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justabride said,
sorry to hear about your grandmother. Hope she recovers quickly…
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taaMMiee said,
Sorry to hear about your grandmother too. Hold on and claim this promise from Jesus… if one believe, he and is household will be saved too…. (but I forgot where the verse is in the Bible… could be somemore in Johsua if I am not mistaken)
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