Memorial of my grandfather

   Tomorrow is the Chinese festival Chong Yang Jie.  I am thinking of my grandfather. He was a Chinese Medicine Practitioner, lived in Guang Zhou and immigrated to Vietnam in the Second World War. His clinic flourished well there and he became quite rich. However, the good condition did not last long. There was anti-Chinese movement in Vietnam and his children all went away, some to mainland China and some to Australia. My grandparents hid a lot of gold into the walls of their house. Now it is no longer our family's possession. Riches is just like a swift of wind that flow away quickly.

  My grandfather came to Hong Kong in the late seventies. By that time he smoked for quite a long time. My dad asked him to stopped smoking in letters. I remembered this quite well. He must be smoking very heavily. We were soon allowed to come to HK after my grandparent's settlement here. I saw my grandfather for the first time and felt he was a generous, warm grandpa. He would take my cousin and me to restaurants, taking food that I have never tasted before in mainland. He took us to the Ocean Park, seeing dolphines and buying hats for us. I also remembered doing the health exercises for pupils ( a series of exercise that must be done in morning by mainland students)  in front of him. He enjoyed watching me doing this very much. Those were such sweet memories.

  Happy days past fast. After a few months of family reunion, my grandfather was diagnosed to have bladder cancer. It was at the termial stage. He was in and out of the hospital very frequently. We kids went to hospital like playgrounds. Near the Chinese New Year, my grandfather was seriously ill. The doctor told him that if he can held his urine, then he could go home.  So he kept refraining going to the toilet. He became uremic and past away. ( I am not sure whether this was the exact happening, just putting the pieces together).

  On such a night, the memory of this loved one put me to tears.
月有陰晴圓缺,人有悲歡離合;
但願人長久,千里共嬋娟.