The love and connections of the grandparents to their, young granddaughter, sighted on this, graduation trip of the young child's, with the grandparents driving up to meet up with her…translated…
It was the end of March, I'd gone with my students on their two day one night graduation trip to the mid strip of the island. The sixth graders, it was their, first time, going on the tour buses to travel with their class, first time staying in hotels with their friends, they'd become too excited to, fall asleep for days on end.
The parents told, that some children from a week before the scheduled trip, started, packing up, and that made the parents felt, sad. And, every day, they'd, taken their clothes, hats, toys, snacks, in and out, packing, and unpacking endlessly, until the last moment before they're to, set out, they'd, decided, what to, pack. At seven on the morn, as the tour bus was, ready to, set out outside of the school, a grandfather stood at the sidewalk, waving goodbye to the grandson, with his eyes, tearing up, and his worries, showed on his, face, unwilling to see his young grandson off alone for the very first time in his, life.
We'd arrived at the, "September 21 Earthquake Memorial", this site preserved the original site of the earthquake from back in 1999, along with all the studies, the artifacts found, to help people understand the effects of the, major earthquakes, to help the people understand, just how important it is, to stay, prepared.
After we got off the bus, there were, the tour buses, parking in the parking lot already, many schools had, come here, for the, filed trips, I suppose. At this time, I saw a couple of about sixty years of age, standing by the bus, and started, scanning every child that got off, closely, I'd originally thought they were, souvenir vendors, as I was, about to, wave them off, I'd realized, that they were, the grandparents of a student, and, I'd, immediately brought the student to them.
Turns out, the grandparents live in Wufeng, but the son and his family, due to his work, live in Hsinchu. Before school age, the children were raised by the grandparents, until as the children entered into elementary, then, the parents took them back to Hsinchu to raise. The three generations were closely connected, the parents would bring the grandchildren back home to visit their elders by the week, until the eldest entered into middle school, as the coursework became heavier, they'd, only visited their families on the major, holidays.
As soon as the grandparents reunited with their grandson, the elders immediately took out the fruits, the drinks, the snacks they'd packed, to hand them to the young granddaughter. The grapes were washed one by one, the melons, and apples, chopped to ready-to-serve pieces, while the snacks, are the specialties of Wufeng. As the young granddaughter took the foods from the grandparents, she'd, rushed into the park with her classmates, first, she'd hugged the grandparents, then whispered a thank you, then she'd, rushed, off. The grandparents smiled as they watched their granddaughter run off, and extended their necks until their granddaughter became, a tiny dot, then, they'd, left.
grandparents driving to meet up with their grandchildren...photo from online
The children with the grandparents are truly, blessed, and, although the extended family couldn't live together as a whole, but, so long as there's the heart, the distances would be, reduced. This was the best example of family, of grandparents and grandchildren, moral, because of how much the parents put into it, that the children always remembered the love of their own, grandparents who live in Taichung, this love of family, is way more, precious than any amount of, physical, wealth.
This was, the most, beautiful story of the two day one night graduation trip, and, I still see the grandparents, hugging their granddaughter for many days afterwards, they truly, warmed, my, heart.
So, this, is what the grandparents did, went out of their ways, to meet up with their own grandchild, and this is also, the problem of modern day families, we'd broken, into smaller units, living separately, and we don't see our grandparents, unless we live in the same cities, and that's only on the, weekends, there's, just no more of the closeness that we shared, back when the families were, as an, extended, whole, but, the grandparents still, made it out of their ways, to spend what small amounts of time they get with their, grandchild.
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