Grandparents

Blog Prompt: We are now at the end of another week. Let's round it out by telling favorite memories of your grandparents.

I don't remember my mother's father because he died when he was 100 years old when I was only about 2 years old. My mother's mother was 40 years younger than him, so I remember her much better. This is a picture of her with my mother and two older sisters (I wasn't born yet when this picture was taken). She lived in Chinatown in New York City and when I was young, I used to spend the weekend with her during the summer. We used to sit outside on the steps of her apartment building and visit with people passing by. Sometimes we would go to the roof and she would let me lay down on my stomach and look over the side. I felt like I was on the Empire State Building instead of just 4 stories high. Her apartment was just 2 small rooms with a bathroom where she lived with my uncle. My uncle had the tiny bedroom and my grandmother's bedroom was the livingroom, kitchen, and diningroom. I believe her whole apartment would fit into my livingroom. It's hard to imagine that my grandparent's raised 7 children in that apartment.

My father's mother lived and died in China so I never got to meet her. My father's father lived in New Jersey and once a year during Easter vacation my parents would take me to visit him. I always wore my finest dress and Easter coat. He never really liked my sisters or me because my mother was not full blooded Chinese and he never felt we were good enough for him. As I grew up, I felt his aloofness and really didn't have much feelings towards him.