One of the biggest thing that happened since beginning of 2009 is that my 94 year old grandmother passed away on Jan 27, 2009.  She is my father's mother.  I am not as close to this grandma as to my other grandma (mother's mother) in SZ.  But I always remember those good memories of hanging at my grandma's house in BaiDing (near Beijing).  Almost every summer before I went to Junior high I was at grandma's with my cousins on my father side.  Running around everywhere and eating all kinds of good food.  I can never forget those amazing Zhajiang Noodles grandma made.  Also that familiar smell of her house. 

 

In Chinese saying, passing at after 90s is actually considered a "happy" funeral.  Regardless, I still couldn't help to feel sad.  Sad for how my dad must have felt.  I can not imagine how that must have felt.  I wish I was there to hug him really tight...

 

A couple of days later, dad called me and told me that he took my grandma's ash to see my grandpa's ash.  Grandpa (father's father) is an old red army soilder.  He died at an accident before my parents even got married, so my memory about him was just that 1 black and white picture in his uniform hanging on the wall of my grandma's living room.  I only heard about things of him, how he was a very tough and starbon captain at the army.  How he got shot in the head during the last war and the most famous doctor in China Dr. Bai Qiu En operated on him and said that it was a miracle that he lived.  However, some parts of the bullet was left in him and that's how he got into the accident later.  Grandpa had always slept in the red army memorial.  So dad mixed some of Grandma's in Grandpa and vise versa so they could sleep together forever although they could not be in the same cemetary.  awwwwwww... sad but very romantic...

 

I was planning on a trip to go with dad for a trip around grandma's house in March so we could visit her together and to celebrate my father's retirment.  I guess now the visiting grandma party will be visitng the cemetary instead. 

 

RIP grandma.  I will always remember you.