We all are blessed with our Grandparents. However, some people are lucky to have spent more times with their Grandparents compared to others, but most of them do not cherish the hard-earned happiness. They often wait until they have loose and then start to treasure what they lost. When we pass the spring, it will be back next year, but if someone in your life had passed away, they won’t come back anymore. When my grandma was still alive, I never thought she’d be gone someday, and now, I regret it. She was one of the most important person in my life. I had lots of great memories with her. She married Grandpa when she had only been fifteen. At that time, Grandpa and Grandma were kind of poor. They had five children: two girls and three boys. Grandpa then died when my dad was only 12 years old, and my father was the youngest in the house. When he was about 15 years old, both of his brothers got married, and his older sister had a girl about his age. My dad was the only one living with Grandma when Grandpa passed away. Dad was born when Grandma was about forty-five, so when I was born, Grandma was pretty old.

As long as I could remember, Grandma was a tiny old lady who liked to walk around. Her hair was snowy-white, skin wrinkled, and teeth all but gone. I always saw Grandma walking alone in the park. Even when she was old, she could see me come far away. Grandma always said I was too skinny, and every time she saw me, she gave me some money. I would always take the money when I was little, but as I grew up, I started to say no, because my mom said, “You cannot take money from the old people.” Every time I said no to her, she would yell at me, and make me take the money. Inside of my memory, the thing Grandma and I have done the most was her telling me stories. Most of time I would visit her for a while, sat down, and listened to her telling me the old legend. The story that I remember most clearly about my grandma was how my hometown island came to be. She said, a lone time ago, Hujiang—my home town island—did not exist. Instead, there was another island with a rich man on it. One day, a monk came by that rich man’s house. He told the rich man when the stone lion on his porch was bleeding, the island would sink to the ocean floor. The rich man believed. So he prepared a large ship, and moved everything valuable onto the ship. Finally, one morning, a servant of the rich man’s house discovered the stone lion was bleeding. Then he ran into the house and told the rich man. Just as the monk said, the water flooded the island, and the island sank into the ocean. Luckily, the rich man’s family escaped from this danger. He gathered his family and then stays on the ship for couple days. As he was drifting on the sea, he noticed there was an island slowly rising from the water, and the shape of this island was like an upside down teapot. So he called this island Hujiang, which means the teapot. My grandma always side there must be a balancer under the sea; on one side is our island, and on the other side is the island that sunk. She said someday, our island will sink into the sea, and the other island will rise up again. I never believed what my grandma said about this, because I don’t think that would be possible. It is just a legend, there is no way to prove it. However, it is still my favorite story, and I do enjoy the story time between Grandma and I.

Besides telling me stories, another thing that Grandma loved to do was came down to my house. My house was about two miles away from her house, and a small island like ours does not have any transportation, so all of the people in our town walked. Grandma often came to my house just for fun. She would spend the whole day in my house and made some of my favorite foods. After third grade, as I moved to a larger town, which I had to ride a boat for half hours to arrive there, Grandma doesn’t come any more. We do not go back a lot except during the summer and New Year break. Earlier, I went back as usual, I would still see Grandma walking around in the park, but she didn’t notice I was there even I was in front of her. She can barely hear me either. I can still remember what she said to me. She said, “Who are you?” That’s when I realized that Grandma was getting old. The doctor said she had Alzheimer’s disease. This disease was more common with age. As more people are living longer, Alzheimer’s disease was becoming more common. The one glaring symptom of her disease was that her memory was very bad. She couldn’t remember things, or she got them all mixed up. She forgot where she had kept things and often would frantically search for them. Then she forgot what she is searching for. As much as she couldn’t remember recent things, she could recall her younger day vividly and dearly. Every time I went to visit her, she would always tell me some old story form the earlier period when Grandpa was still alive. Even though I didn’t really understand what she was saying, but I would always wait for her to finish. She would talk about this for couples of hours. As I grew up, I finally notice she was telling me the same story over and over again. Unfortunately, like all good things, it had to come to an end.

I was eleven when I moved to the United States. The night before I went, my mother, my sister, and I went to visit Grandma. Grandma didn’t know we were going to leave. She was still talking, until my mom interrupted her. Mom told her we were going to leave China. There was an awkward silence, and I knew Grandma was crying. She said, “What time are you leaving.” Mom told her we were going to ride the boat and leave the island tomorrow morning at eight ‘o clock. I will never forget what Grandma said to us. She said, “I’m not going to send you off tomorrow. I’m not going to the dock tomorrow.” I think I knew what Grandma was thinking. She didn’t want to see us leave, so she chose not to send us off. The next morning, we arrived at the dock. Everyone else was here besides Grandma. Eden and I decided to run to Grandma’s house and bring her here. When we ran to her house, we saw her sitting on the porch alone. She was looking forward, but I have no idea what she was looking for. Eden and I looked at each other. We walk slowing towards her and called her softly. We convinced her to come with us. We walked to the dock together, none of us said anything at this point. I knew she was sad, but no matter how much she didn’t want us to leave, we had to go. It was such a small island that everybody on the island was here. Eden and I gave everybody a hug, and then we got on the boat. Some of our relatives rode the boat with us. Eden and I stood on the prow and waved at them. I looked at Grandma’s snowy hair, somehow, the tears slowing slide down to my cheek. This was my first time traveled to a place about thousands miles away from my home town, and I’m not even sure when I would be back. I promised to myself, I will come back to visit her someday, but we never did. Now, we will never have the chance to make it come true.

That is one thing in my life I most regret. I never had the chance to see Grandma again. I never thought the day I left China would be the last day I saw her. Two years ago, we heard Grandma was very ill. My dad and my mom got the flight to China as soon as possible. For some reason, Eden and I had to stay here. In order to let Grandma see us, though, dad videotaped us, so he could bring us to China. About 15 days after my dad and my mom went to China, we got a phone call from our cousin at midnight. She told us Granma had passed away. We knew it would happen someday, and we knew we had no way to stop it, we just didn’t expect it would come so suddenly. I haven’t had a chance to go back, and I haven’t seen her for two years. I just regret that Grandma won’t see me grow up slowly. I regret that next time I return to China, Grandma won’t be there anymore. Now, another two years has passed away. I still can’t believe Grandma was gone. It seems like if I’m not back in China, she will always be here.

I truly miss my grandma. I miss when she use to say I was too skinny. I miss when she took my hand and told me about Grandpa. I miss when she walked to my house and had dinner with us. I miss when she told me some old story about our island and its creation. If she were still alive, I would bring her to Amery. I want her to visit where I’ve been living for the past four years. She never had a chance to leave that small island. If she were still alive, I want to take her to ride in a boat, ride in a car, and ride in an airplane. There are lots things I couldn’t but I want to do with her. Grandma and I were very intimate, and I do really have some good memories that I have spent with her. She was a real asset for us, and I was lucky to be with her for 11 years of my life. Each and every moment I have been with her, she has taught me lessons that have been and will be with through my life. However, I have to admit. She was gone. If she was in the heaven, and if she could watch me right now, she would know how much I miss her.

Grandmas are sweet little angels for all grandchildren. They have great hearts for all children. They spent so much time and effort to make us happy and to get all of our requirements done. Having Grandparents at home is a blessing. You will never realize how lucky you are when your Grandparents were still with you. You only do when they are gone. As they get older and have seen life more than us, they guide us and instruct us as to what is right and what is wrong. I don’t want you to regret once that leave you. In this world, the people you should be most grateful to are your Grandparents. They are always there to lend a helping hand and help us to walk through the problems. Appreciate what you have. Treasure every moment that you have with your Grandparents.