GRANDPA...

I seldom visit my grandpa, I always say that I don't have a car. In fact, I really don't have a car, and work til late. Weekends will be busy babysitting, how terrible. To me, grandpa is a healthy and calm person. He was an assistant headmaster when he was young.

Believe it or not, he has 11 children and you can imagine how many grandchildren he has. I'm the eldest 'girl' grandchild. I have lots of cousins, now we are keeping in touch via Facebook, how wonderful. My grandpa collects a lot of photos.

Memories come by, now and then. I always try to sneak at his photo albums. They are old and quite dusty. I think he has more than 50 albums of photos, from his younger days, until today. From black and white pictures, small print-outs and to colourful 8R photos he has in his collection.

I saw a lot of my childhood pictures and some I don't even have them in my own collection. I have to admit that I snapped a lot of pictures since small. I was a cute little girl, with poney tail, big smile and lovely clothes.

Saw the pictures of my uncles, aunties when they were younger. Wow, their 'fashion' was extremely 60's ahahhahaa, so conservative ler... no eye see. Imagine those boxed-pattern shirts and baggy pants ... and funny hi-heels and boots... wahahahahha!

In their younger days, they really don't know how to pose, all sit or stand, no 'design' at all. hahaha! so bored! Family pix will be old folks sitting in the middle, small children standing in front and couples stood behind in a row... HOW BORED! But it's really nice to see old pictures.

It shows that we've improved. From Black & White, to full colour pictures now. From old fashioned clothes, to trendy styles now. From funny hairstyle to nice haircut now... From big round glasses, to branded frames now... cool!

Most things were just so simple and everyone was just living a normal life. The smile in the pix were naturally warm, easy, people looked younger, faces were smoother, we see family pictures, birthday pictures... but those were much more earlier... 25 - 30 years back...

Time flies, everyone's getting older and smarter. Children become grown-ups. Competitive world, highly educated people found in my own family (but not me pai-seh pai-seh) Grandpa is always proud of his children and his grand-children. Most of my cousins earns 5x my salary. Big salary, nice houses. Maybe I should work harder... but I'm happy, lead to simpler life is my motto...

Money is a tool that keep us going. Happiness is a bonus to support us! Caring gives a plus point to live to the fullest!

Grandpa's house is very simple. NO Astro - he said local tv programmes are sufficient, NO air-cond, NO water heater, maybe he feels unsecure with the electricity stuff :)

He is a great person who has good charisma, I respect his patience and calmness attitude. I never see him raise his temper. He was admitted to the hospital last year for a laser surgery. This year, he was admitted due to food poisoning and he felt down as he had no energy to walk properly. When I visit him in the hospital, I'll check his feet, are they cold, I'll see if he wants to drink a hot drink and see if he feels pain ? Grandpa, pls take good care of yourself. At his age (89 this year), he is very tough, and consider strong.

Everytime I go to visit him, I'll make sure I talk to him a lot. I know he is lonely sometimes, everyone is busy working. But he never nags or mumble. He is the type of person who talks about good things. He is happy with his grandchildren's achievements.

His hobby is reading I think! He cuts out lots of newspaper articles for reference and he shares a lot of stories with me. I find that he is very informative and sincere. Maybe he was used to knowledge sharing environment when he was teaching in school last time.

Grandpa, it's a blessing to have you around us, I love you!