Happiness

My grandmother will turn 87 years old this year. She raised me when I was a baby. Times were particularly difficult for my parents when I was born. So she looked after me. For whatever reason, mosquitoes were particularly attracted to me...when I slept, she would stay up for as long as she can, to watch over me with a fan, to fend away the mosquitoes. She said she couldn't bring herself to ask my parents to buy a mosquito net for me. That was how difficult things were for my parents and she didn't want to put any burdens on them.

I don't know why, but I thought of my grandmother tonight on my way home. When I was seven or eight, I went back to my ancestral village to visit her. Being the youngest and the most mischievous grandchild (oi, all my cousins were so well behaved), I remember hopping around in the courtyard up to no good, while my grandmother watched on, with the most content smile on her face. I guess that's happiness.