My Great Grandmother
My great grandmother is one of my favorite people in the world. She is my mother's grandmother. She used to help my mother take care of me and my sisters back then when we were little. I used to sleep with her. She liked to brush my hair with her fingers and rub my back until I fell asleep.
She has always been old my whole life. I thought she always looks the same, until I found an old picture with her in it. It was a picture of me, my mother, my sisters, my cousins, and her, back when I was still in elementary school . By looking at that picture, I realized that she has gotten much older.
She uses a cane to help her walk now, but until a few years ago she was still walking strong. There's distinct footsteps noise she made when she used to walk, slow and dragged steps. My sisters and I were able to recognize her from just her footsteps.
I never really talk much with her because she has severe hearing loss,we have to talk very loudly for her to be able to hear us. I always imagine what kind of long conversation we would have had if her hearing was still good.
My great grandmother was the oldest of three. Sadly, her little brother and sister had passed away. Her husband had also passed away even long before I was born. My great grandmother used to sell clay pots back then when she was younger. She loaded the clay pots on her bike and took them to the market. She only has one child, my maternal grandmother. No one really knows for sure how old she is. She got a citizen ID card, there was a date of birth but even my grandmother can not confirm that. I think she might be over 100 years old.
My great grandmother still wears traditional Javanese clothes, a kebaya and a jarik. She always dresses modestly. My family has been buying her new kebayas, but she treasures the new ones too much that she only wears them when there are special occasions such as lebaran. some of her clothes got holes in them, but she still wears them. She used to have neat hair bun, but now most of her hair are falling off, so she can no longer make a neat bun, only small one.
My family always do Idul Fitri and Idul Adha prayer at Mr Yusuf's Mosque (the name of the Mosque is Al-Mizan, but we've been calling it Mr Yusuf's Mosque because his family take care of it). The Mosque is 10 minutes walk from my grandparents house. When my great grandmother was still walking strong, she used to walk together with us. She has always been a very devout moslem. She can't hear the adzan but she always asks us when it's time, and we always tell her when it's time. She took a wudhu and pray right away. She also never misses Ramadhan fasting. Now that her legs hurt and the osteoporosis takes over her body, she does prayer sitting on a chair.
My great grandmother keeps her money in a small handkerchief. She keeps the handkerchief under her clothes. I made her a small wallet but I think she forgot it so she never uses it. My great grandmother's only spending is for giving her great grandchildren pocket money. Sometimes she tries to give us twice in a day because she forgot that she already gave us.
My great grandmother has 13 great grandchildren, but she can only remember 6 names. The funny thing is due to her hearing loss, she misspronouces our names. My family call me Vani, but she calls me Wani. It's cool though because Wani means brave haha.
Sometimes I wonder how she sees the world. When I was little, I used to wonder how she thinks a tv works. Now I wonder if she's aware that certain politicians are corrupt, or if there's a climate change. I hope her world is much better than ours. Does she still remember her childhood? It's kind of hard to imagine that she was once a little child. What did she do when she was my age? What sort of toys she played with? Whenever she's sick she always mumble "Yung, yung, yung....". My mother said that she was calling her mother. Yung is short for biyung, it means mother. There was definitely a point in her life when she still lives with her own family, maybe having this very thoughts about her own great grandmother. And maybe one day I'll get to experience what she experience now, being old and surrounded by my children, and their children, and their children's children.
I really love my great grandmother. I know she loves us too, she put up some pictures of her grandchildren and great grand children in her room. I hope she's having the best life. I hope she'll be healthy for many more years. I hope one day she can meet my children, and be able to carry them just like how she carried me in her arms.
She has always been old my whole life. I thought she always looks the same, until I found an old picture with her in it. It was a picture of me, my mother, my sisters, my cousins, and her, back when I was still in elementary school . By looking at that picture, I realized that she has gotten much older.
She uses a cane to help her walk now, but until a few years ago she was still walking strong. There's distinct footsteps noise she made when she used to walk, slow and dragged steps. My sisters and I were able to recognize her from just her footsteps.
I never really talk much with her because she has severe hearing loss,we have to talk very loudly for her to be able to hear us. I always imagine what kind of long conversation we would have had if her hearing was still good.
My great grandmother was the oldest of three. Sadly, her little brother and sister had passed away. Her husband had also passed away even long before I was born. My great grandmother used to sell clay pots back then when she was younger. She loaded the clay pots on her bike and took them to the market. She only has one child, my maternal grandmother. No one really knows for sure how old she is. She got a citizen ID card, there was a date of birth but even my grandmother can not confirm that. I think she might be over 100 years old.
My great grandmother still wears traditional Javanese clothes, a kebaya and a jarik. She always dresses modestly. My family has been buying her new kebayas, but she treasures the new ones too much that she only wears them when there are special occasions such as lebaran. some of her clothes got holes in them, but she still wears them. She used to have neat hair bun, but now most of her hair are falling off, so she can no longer make a neat bun, only small one.
My family always do Idul Fitri and Idul Adha prayer at Mr Yusuf's Mosque (the name of the Mosque is Al-Mizan, but we've been calling it Mr Yusuf's Mosque because his family take care of it). The Mosque is 10 minutes walk from my grandparents house. When my great grandmother was still walking strong, she used to walk together with us. She has always been a very devout moslem. She can't hear the adzan but she always asks us when it's time, and we always tell her when it's time. She took a wudhu and pray right away. She also never misses Ramadhan fasting. Now that her legs hurt and the osteoporosis takes over her body, she does prayer sitting on a chair.
My great grandmother keeps her money in a small handkerchief. She keeps the handkerchief under her clothes. I made her a small wallet but I think she forgot it so she never uses it. My great grandmother's only spending is for giving her great grandchildren pocket money. Sometimes she tries to give us twice in a day because she forgot that she already gave us.
My great grandmother has 13 great grandchildren, but she can only remember 6 names. The funny thing is due to her hearing loss, she misspronouces our names. My family call me Vani, but she calls me Wani. It's cool though because Wani means brave haha.
Sometimes I wonder how she sees the world. When I was little, I used to wonder how she thinks a tv works. Now I wonder if she's aware that certain politicians are corrupt, or if there's a climate change. I hope her world is much better than ours. Does she still remember her childhood? It's kind of hard to imagine that she was once a little child. What did she do when she was my age? What sort of toys she played with? Whenever she's sick she always mumble "Yung, yung, yung....". My mother said that she was calling her mother. Yung is short for biyung, it means mother. There was definitely a point in her life when she still lives with her own family, maybe having this very thoughts about her own great grandmother. And maybe one day I'll get to experience what she experience now, being old and surrounded by my children, and their children, and their children's children.
I really love my great grandmother. I know she loves us too, she put up some pictures of her grandchildren and great grand children in her room. I hope she's having the best life. I hope she'll be healthy for many more years. I hope one day she can meet my children, and be able to carry them just like how she carried me in her arms.
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