Zeroing in on 6:00 pm, one painfully drawn-out hour at a time. Actually, it's not that bad. I'm not exactly blase, but I am prepared for anything now.However, that controlled attitude did not stop me from being testy to my mom in one of her routine "did you hear yet" calls. A couple of months ago, she tried to use my little 92-year-old grandma in Taiwan as a vehicle of guilt.
My grandmother is like a Ming vase -- Chinese, precious, and super old. She has indomitable health, is lovable and sharp. She's also pretty down with Buddha. So my mom had said to me, "Granny prays for you. She goes to her chapel every day and repeats Buddhist prayers so you'll pass your exam. She also makes the trip to the temple on the hill and prays that you'll pass. It's a long trip for her."
That's just what I need. The image of my tiny raisin-of-a-grandma, in those black kung-fu shoes she likes to wear, in her warmly padded Mao jacket that buttons up to her chin, trekking up rocky Taiwanese terrain to light some incense for her underachieving Chinese-American granddaughter.
This morning, my mom tried to work the same shpiel. "I have a good feeling about it," she said, "And Granny does, too. She said many prayers for you. She said she thinks you passed this time."
"Oh really," I said, "Did Grandma take the exam too?"
"What?" My mom didn't get it.
"Nothing."
Anyway, I hope Grandma and Buddha got some good convos out of all this.
posted by Lucy Sloan @ 8:08 AM
3 Comments:
Yep, sounds like a grandma... I think they've got it in their genes, mothers and grandmothers. Another thing they've got in their DNA is 'the look' - like they by some intergallactic way know you've screwed up, and don't want to confess... but then again, nothing's as comforting as them hugging you, is there? It's like they brought up your mum or dad, and now, they can devote their entire life on adoring you...
My great grandmother was this teeny tiny little woman - I swear to you, you could almost fit her in your pocket. I never quite grasped how she felt about me... sometimes, I felt like I was her top favorite, sometimes like she didn't like me at all... but I guess that's the way it is with grandparents - you can never know what they are thinking, while they have you completely figured out... or so they think... :)
My mum and me, we have the same sense of humor, and what worse is, my Grams, a woman of 68, is the worst of the three of us - when it comes to sarcasm or being blunt, I know Grams will balance on the wrong side of the border... :) It's funny, it's like somewhere along the way, she just though "ah, screw it, I'm old, I don't have to care about what people think of me" and just went for it... it's liberating, I tell you, once you get used to it...
So... how did the test go?
/Hart
Thanks for asking! It was a 3-day exam and I was just glad that it was over. Am not quite sure how it went.. we'll find out today, of course.
The particularly guilty part of my grandma -- as a concept -- is that I see her maybe once every 7 years. She's in Taiwan and I seldom go back there. Sounds like you and your grandma are close, and she's pretty young, too. Lucky!
Hey Karen
Yeah, me and Grams are quite tight... she's so funny, too. I don't know if you've watched "The Bachelor" with Charlie O'Connell? If you have, you might have seen Krisly's grandmother... that's pretty much my Grams!
But just like your grandmother, she lives far away, and it's not that simple to be close when you're divided by country borders... we talk weekly, and if things so as planned, she'll come to visit this Christmas!
Keeping my fingers crossed for your exam. I'm fresh out of University, so at least that part is behind me! :D
/Hart
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