#MySuperTaiwaneseGrandma (Continue from English version info section above) "Grandma just left. Come to the hospital." I was flying over the dark Pacific Ocean. The flight attendant woke me up with the meal service. I put on earphones, pressed the movie play button, and was about to eat when the intermittent United Airlines Wi-Fi suddenly connected and my phone's family group messages notified me unexpectedly. In early June, I booked a flight back to Taiwan from the US to take my grandma back to the hospital for regular check-ups and also change my visa. My grandma, who never liked hospitals, a week before my flight said that she was not feeling well and wanted to be hospitalized; two days before my flight she was diagnosed acute leukemia; half an hour before my flight I was still video-calling with her at the San Francisco airport, asking her to wait for me to come back; nonetheless, even Boeing 777 couldn’t catch up with grandma's hasty footsteps. “Grandma must have not wanted me to see her leaving,” I said to myself. So I put away my phone, let the movie continue, and finished my meal as if grandma told me not to waste food. Outside the window, the starry sky over the North Pacific Ocean was glittering. I looked around wondering if grandma had turned into one of the stars, shining down on me, caring for me, and escorting me back to Taiwan. All of a sudden, the light of the star blurred between my eyes, too misty for me to see the star that I thought represented my grandma. Pacing the long and endless underground corridors of the Taipei Second Funeral Parlor was actually a half-minute walk. When we reached the freezer area, grandma’s cache was slowly pulled out and suspended in the air. We took turns to climb up the wooden steps and whispered in her ear. "Grandma, I am back. We no longer want this sick body. You can go without any worries. We will take care of ourselves.” It was grandma’s mercy; my aunt said that grandma just didn't like to bother others - she went to the hospital to pass away and based on her death timing we go for prayers on Sundays so that we family don’t have to take leaves from work. On the day my aunt came back from Germany, she heard from my dad that grandma had come back once because there was an unusual amount of incense ash everywhere on the worship table at home. Grandma must have been concerned about my dad and my cousin; that’s what she always did in her daily life. "Will the incinerator burn the jade bracelet?" I asked the funeral director, looking at the jade bracelet in the bag of grandma's belongings, which was supposed to be cremated together, secretly hoping that it would not be burnt so that we could preserve it. "Jade is strong and glossy.” Because grandma's name has "Jade" in it, my brother and I chose a jade urn for her. My grandma, Chiang, Pao-Yu, was born in Sanxing Village, Luodong County, Taipei State in Japan Showa 10 and was given to another family as a child bride right after her birth. She had to work on the farm and eat at the mercy of others. She even witnessed the bombardment of warplanes and the bloodshed outside the air raid shelters in the World War II. At the age of 18, grandma escaped from her adoptive family with the help of a distant relative and came to Taipei, where she worked as a nanny in a suit store next to the Dadaocheng Daguangming Cinema, where she met grandpa, a Nationalist party soldier from Zhejiang who came to buy suits. Grandpa gambled a lot and was not even there when grandma went into labor. Grandpa, who died very young, left behind a huge gambling debt. The underground bank even kidnapped the child and threatened my grandma to bring the money to redeem the kid. Dad said that they had done all kinds of jobs like washing stairs and delivering newspapers. Even grandma brought her three kids to the river side and was about to jump into the river with kids tied up together; yet she did not at last. Now grandma should be proudly laughing at her hard-won herstory, shouldn't she? Grandma was illiterate - she could barely write her signature properly - yet she was always frugal, helped others with her virtue, and thus always attracted a lot of kind-hearted people to give her a hand at all critical stages of her life. I was always proud to hear grandma tell me about her early days when she worked tirelessly as a realtor all over Taiwan, and how she went from not having enough food to eat to being able to pay off grandpa's debts, and even buy houses in Taipei and raise up her children. When I was a naughty kid, I used to draw on grandma's floor plan papers. Grandma said “Eat a mouthful of rice from others; return a pipeful of rice to others” and she always talked about the favors done to her by some acquaintances in the early days. She taught me to be thankful and always look at the warmth and goodness of the society and inspired me to work hard to become a useful person to return the goodness to others. When I was little my parents always told me to not to take the pocket money from grandma, every time around several hundred dollars. Nine times out of ten I couldn't escape from accepting grandma's money. After my parents divorced and we became the registered low-income family, one time I went back for dinner and grandma took out the only one hundred dollar note and said guiltily, “My bad, grandma is now strapped. I can only give you one hundred dollar.” Nevertheless, I took the 100 dollars without any escapes this time. On the way home that night on the bus I couldn't help but cry. I thought, why did grandma apologize? Why did grandma feel it was her responsibility to give pocket money to her grandchildren? It must have been because of the suffering in your early years. That's why when we were in debt, you risked all your savings to help pay our debts and make sure we grandchildren could still eat and go to school. The hardships and wars of the early years have made grandma’s resilience, an invaluable asset that you have left to us. You have taught us the best by being open to challenges and down to earth yet with your obedience to fate. I am thankful to my Shi-Fu for the miraculous rescue of grandma when she was given a critical notice by the ER 8 years ago. It had let me steal 8 more years from the universe just to practice saying goodbye to my grandma one day, giving me more time to take your red packets for a few more years, to take you to a movie, to go to Sun Moon Lake together, to show her we brothers went from being under someone else’s roof to buying our own apartment, and to learn how to drive and take her around. Although in recent years you felt guilty that you could no longer cook our favorite dishes or teach me how to make rice dumplings, fortunately I was able to video-call and share my first rice dumplings I made with you in the US this June. These 8 years also allowed me to prove to you that your grandson is the best. I remember your smile when I told you that I got the offer from the biggest company in the world, or when I got admitted to the top university in the world. I am grateful to you for backing me up to reach the climax of the world, and I will carry your kindness and mercy as the energy to burn and shine for you in more corners of the world. These years, I either studied or worked in Europe, China, Singapore, the United States. I guess this should have been inherited from your gene that made you always travel everywhere, right? As the old saying goes, "Return home in fine clothes,” I always went back to Taiwan every three or four months during all the years of long distance. Thank you for never blaming me for flying farther and farther over the years. Every time when I left grandma's place, I would always look back to the third floor balcony and sometimes you would come out and wave your hand as if you were telling me to spread my wings and fly as high as I should freely. From now on, I don't have to look back anymore because you are herein residing in the bottom of my heart as my strongest citadel. Maybe because you were given away to the other family at birth or because of the traditional belief that when a woman gets married, you are someone else's, you have always been selfless and devoted to others in your life. But dear grandma, we want to say to you "You are not someone else’s; you are our super grandma.” Thank you for all these years for teaching us to be kind and gentle, thank you for giving me an elastic heart, and thank you for giving me a shelter for 30 years; what the invaluable grace. Please let me be your childish grandson again in the next life. We are proud our strong grandma was never infected with COVID. We believe this time you are voluntarily leaving with Buddha. These days we try to live our lives happily as usual, so that you can be less attached to this chaotic world and go to a better place with a carefree mind. Grandma, please remember to follow the fully-enlightened master to practice until you also get completely enlightened and benefit all sentient beings of the universe. This year Apple announced the very expensive Vision Pro. I was so looking forward to buying it next year to capture grandma's eternal moments with 3D recording, but grandma left first. No way till now grandma you are still reminding me to save money, aren’t you? Thanks for the great help from family and friends to my grandma along the way. Appreciate if you can share it or pray “Amitabha” to our grandma Chiang, Pao-Yu 🙏🏻