Recently, I’ve been tasked to bring Maternal Grandpa for his Cataract Removal Surgery and the follow up appointment.
This brought back memories.
When I was 16, I was ‘summoned‘ to bring my Paternal Grandpa for his haircut, the visits to the family doctor and his medical appointment at NUH. Despite shifted to Bukit Panjang, he still prefers to go back to his ‘hometown‘ @ Pandan Garden to look for his barber.
I must have inherited this ‘being a regular, loyal customer’ trait from him. To sidetrack, I literally ate from the same stall during my 5 years in Secondary School, till the auntie give me extra portion (free of charge). I’ve been using M1 Mobile Services for the past 12 years and Starhub for their cable broadband for the past 6 years.
We share the ‘grandpa and grandson’ secret. I was the only grandson to know that he strike lottery whenever he does and he will give me $50, which is quite alot of money some 10 years ago.
He trust me enough to let me know the password to his ATM card. He always give clear instructions, not to put all the money withdrawn in the same pocket and to seperate them into the different available pockets to the clothings that you are wearing. In case you drop the money, all is not lost! -_-” (I actually did what he asked)
He made me crossed 2 streets to get packets of sugars for him as it’s 50 cents cheaper on the other side. -______________________-
I was always curious, ‘Why Me?’
He has 13 sons/daughters which meant that he also has plentiful of grandchildrens. So why me? I’m clearly not the eldest and wasn’t his favorite at that point of time.
It wasn’t until years after he passed away that I heard from my aunt (his favorite daughter) that he always asked me to accompany him as I will just sit there and wait for him to finished whatever he’s doing and will get things done for him.
When I went to China in 2001 for an overseas trip with my school, he gave me $100 and packed some chinese medications for me, in case I were to fall sick along the way. His only caution was ‘Do no buy any herbs or medicine in China, as majority are fakes!’
He was a great cook. He makes the best Tau Suan, Mee Hoon Kuey and Glutinous Rice. Sadly, none of us inherited his skills.
Anyway, I will never have thought that after 12 years, I still have a chance to do this. Just that it’s a different grandpa this time. Haha =)