Last Wednesday, I turned 90.
Among my ancestors, only my paternal grandmother lived past 90. I believe she was 94 or 95 when she passed away.
Grandmother refused to leave China when my family fled from the Communist invasion and went to Hong Kong in 1949. She and her second-daughter, my single aunt, lived together. For almost thirty years, she lived under the terror and suffering from the new government. I vaguely remember stories about how she was made to live in only one part of her three story home, having to allow others to take over her other parts of the house. And, how, during the young Red Army "madness", she lost everything. The story was that somehow they found out about her diamonds hidden under the floor boards and confiscated them, among other things.
My mother said, since my father's mother would not move to Hong Kong with us, she could not take her mother, my long-widowed maternal grandmother, to Hong Kong with us. Her logic, certainly not mine. If only I had any say-so in those days. I would have at lease made some "noise." Grandma went to live with one of her brothers-in-law and passed away a few years later.
And here I am, ninety-years-old, living comfortably in a nice two-bedroom apartment, in a modern and fast-growing part of Texas. I have a view of the most wonderful sunsets a lot of the times. I am well-fed and well-cared of. I am surrounded by some good friends and caring staff. I am well-loved by my children and their spouses, and by my grand-children. What is more - I can still walk without a cane. My middle daughter, Melinda, gave me a plaque that says, "Age is like a hat. It's all in how you wear it, Honey."
My cup runneth over.
My only worry is the "craziness" in the country.
I am not a praying type, but for the sake of our children and grand-children, I am praying that "This will pass."
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