Goodbye AhMah

forever in our hearts

Shortly after I proposed to Mae, she said to me, "Do you think you could call my grandma AhMah?" It was Hokkien for grandmother and it was what Mae had always called the little old lady. "But we're not married yet," I teased. But we both knew it was something that was important to AhMah. That was the kind of person she was.

It was no big secret that Mae was AhMah's favourite. Her siblings and cousins know it. But being the nice folks they are, they never gave her a hard time about it. Not like how we sometimes like it rub it in to my Dad's Golden Boy in my family. And so by marrying Mae, I sort of became her favourite grandson in-law too. But that wasn't too difficult since, at this time of writing, I remain her only grandson in-law. Still, she doted on me as she would her own grandchildren.

When Jesse was born, she doted on him too. He wasn't her first great-grandson, but he was the only one in the country - and so she gave him all the love she had inside of her. She'd smile whenever he did. And when he was upset, she would be too. And she'd cherish every little thing he does. "He's not like other children," she'd gush. "He's so much smarter!" she'd tell us all, even when he wasn't particularly so. And she wouldn't let anyone tell her otherwise.

Last Saturday, we laid AhMah to rest. She was 86. AhMah lived a long life. A lot of it was good. And a lot of it was difficult. Yet through it all, she found solace in the Lord.

In the remaining months of her life, she also found a lot of joy in her little great-grandson. And as she did, we did too. Mae and I will always feel proud that Jesse, despite his tender young age, brought so much happiness to his great-grandma.

As they interred AhMah into her final resting place, Mae brought Jesse up to the front and explained to him that his Chor-Chor was going away forever. As she lifted his little hand to wave bye-bye to his great-grandma, the boy squealed with glee, oblivious to the fact that it's going to be a long while before they meet again. Instead, he chattered away happily as if it was just another day.

I think AhMah wouldn't have wanted it any other way.