"Grandpa! Grandma!"
I used to call them while running towards them and gave them a hug the moment I stepped into the shop house.
When I was small, most of the year end holidays were spent with my grandparents. At that time, grandpa was only in his early seventies while grandma was in her late fifties. Grandpa owned a shop selling watches and clocks. That is where we will spend our time every time we visit them in Ansun, Perak.
Grandpa and grandma are always happy to see us arriving at the shop. They used to reply our call with a warm smile. Those smiles were things that I missed so much until today. As usual, grandpa always welcomed us with a surprise. He loved things that come from nature. He used to dye his hair with the natural dyeing materials. There was one year when he came out with his yellowish brown coloured hair! He looked so young! He told us that it was from Henna flower that he planted behind the shop. He even said that he would try purple colour next time!
Usually after dinner, grandpa would bring me to the shopping center next door. I can still remember the way grandpa hold my tiny hand and brought me to walk around the shopping center. Grandpa seldom bought toys for me as he knew I'd got many toys at home. Instead, he would give me something handmade. One of the special gifts that I got from him was a diary made by himself. It was a simple diary but the papers were bound together neatly by strings. It was a present for me when I was eleven years old.
As I grew older, he seldom brought me to the shopping center. Instead, he started to advise me to study hard in order to score well in exams. He always told me that time is gold and hope I will distribute my time in a very good way. That diary was presented to me so that I could jot down everything in it and spend my time according to the plans. Grandpa knew me well. He knew that I was not getting enough of general knowledge. He used to advise me to read the newspapers and listen to the news daily to know the happenings around me.
As time went by, grandpa was getting older too. There was one time when we went to visit him, I noticed that grandpa's laughter was not as energetic as before. That struck my heart hard. Grandpa was neither doing the dyeing job nor the hand making business anymore. The moment i went to the back of the shop, most of the plants were already taken care by grandma. Looking carefully at grandpa, I noticed that the face that used to looked so enthusiastic that almost every good happening would go into his direction was now full of wrinkles. The well built body was not there anymore. Grandpa had lost weight.
The moment I received the cruel news from mom, I knew this day would come. But I just didn't expect that it would come so fast. Grandpa had left me, he left the whole family. The moment I paid the last respect to him, he was lying in the coffin, so peacefully. I stared at his face, a face that was so familiar to me, a face which used to be decorated with smiles and laughter, was showing some signs that grandpa had actually been fighting against the illnesses with all his will. The longer I stared at his face, the more ambiguous the image became. Without any control, warm tears dropped down my cheeks. Sadness washed me in drowning waves. Reluctant to be apart from grandpa, my shoulders shivered and I broke into tears...
Although grandpa had left us for more two years, his love and teachings were all well remembered in our hearts. I can still feel, that grandpa is always with us.
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