made even more “grandmother” by my gold Katherine The Great Cherry Blossom ring
Me: Why?
The Buddha: [looks sheepish] I don’t want to say.
Me: Is it because it looks very “Ah-Ma”?
The Buddha: I didn’t say anything!!
Me: Of course if looks “Ah-Ma”, you idiot! It belongs to my Ah Ma!!
*
My father dug this out of the wardrobe two nights ago and gave it to me. It was a gift from his eldest brother-in-law, who was a sailor, to my paternal grandmother. Grandmother wore it for years and years until she fell ill and lost weight. So my father took it off and kept it in a silver box ever since.
My father shared a particularly close relationship with Grandmother. Although she had two elder sons before my father, she ended up spending her last days staying at our place, taking care of my elder sisters, then later being taken care of by my parents. She came from Hainan to join Grandfather only to realise that Grandfather had, in her absence, found another woman. She put up with living with the other woman in the same compound and the abuse from Grandfather and the other woman just so that her children would be provided for.
I never knew Grandmother. She passed away well before I came to be.
I don’t usually like light coloured jade but I adore this bracelet with it’s little wisps of orange and almost luminous creamy green. I love it for the person it represents, a person I never knew but wished I did.
purrr.... 