story time
so a while back, i did a speech in managerial communications class
where I told a story about this village in China where instead of preparing a dowry for their daughter the father will go from house to house in the village exchanging a cup of rice for a cup of water until they have enough of it to give their daughter a bath.
the point of my story was about valuing things in our lives.
I dont exactly remember when I heard this story but it certainly has stuck to my head.
it's amazing how stories we hear when we were young stay with us long after we've lost our innocence.
it's also amazing how these stories shaped us and how we see, think and do things.
i may have written about this in an earlier post but whatever. it's probably one of the most beautiful love stories I ever heard.
my great grandmother was named 織. the single character name meant "to weave". in her 98 years she wove herself a very interesting story. stories of her family's escape from communist oppression among others. but the best story yet, was about her love for her husband-- my maternal great grandfather on my grandfather's side.
theirs was an arranged marriage but she, i believe, eventually fell in love with her husband.
she was dealt her cards and she made her decisions. Urgh.. this is becoming very Joy Luck Club. but whatevs.
So escaping the Communist attack on Nationalist China, her family moved to the Philippines where my great grandfather passed away. She was widowed at an early age, 40 or 50, I should remember to ask my grandmother. But she never stopped loving him I guess, because when she started feeling the effects of old age, she began making the dress she wished to be buried in.
having been raised in a proper southern chinese household, she was very talented in embroidery. she made two cheongsams two pairs of shoes, two blankets and a pillow. all of these entirely out of silk she brought with her from the mainland.
it would be another 30 years before she dies. but as soon as she finishes the work, she gives very clear instructions as to how these were to be used.
my aunt, her second granddaughter, recounted these instructions after her burial.
Apparently Taima wanted to wear one of the dresses and one pair of shoes and have one of the blankets cover her legs. the other dress the other pair of shoes and the other blanket were supposed to be set at her feet in the coffin. For years no one knew why these particular instructions were given. Until my aunt told us, Taima wanted to have a clean change of clothes and shoes so that once she reached the gates of the world of the dead, she can change into them. she said she wanted her husband to see her beautiful in a clean new dress.
MOHA (this will be a new friend's nickname until I find a proper codename for her) and I were talking about this story a few weeks ago and she said all her questions about me were answered by this one story. hahaha.
i guess this shapes how i look at life, the cards each one of us is dealt, how we deal with them, my choices and perhaps to a certain extent, how i am just unable to travel light!
where I told a story about this village in China where instead of preparing a dowry for their daughter the father will go from house to house in the village exchanging a cup of rice for a cup of water until they have enough of it to give their daughter a bath.
the point of my story was about valuing things in our lives.
I dont exactly remember when I heard this story but it certainly has stuck to my head.
it's amazing how stories we hear when we were young stay with us long after we've lost our innocence.
it's also amazing how these stories shaped us and how we see, think and do things.
i may have written about this in an earlier post but whatever. it's probably one of the most beautiful love stories I ever heard.
my great grandmother was named 織. the single character name meant "to weave". in her 98 years she wove herself a very interesting story. stories of her family's escape from communist oppression among others. but the best story yet, was about her love for her husband-- my maternal great grandfather on my grandfather's side.
theirs was an arranged marriage but she, i believe, eventually fell in love with her husband.
she was dealt her cards and she made her decisions. Urgh.. this is becoming very Joy Luck Club. but whatevs.
So escaping the Communist attack on Nationalist China, her family moved to the Philippines where my great grandfather passed away. She was widowed at an early age, 40 or 50, I should remember to ask my grandmother. But she never stopped loving him I guess, because when she started feeling the effects of old age, she began making the dress she wished to be buried in.
having been raised in a proper southern chinese household, she was very talented in embroidery. she made two cheongsams two pairs of shoes, two blankets and a pillow. all of these entirely out of silk she brought with her from the mainland.
it would be another 30 years before she dies. but as soon as she finishes the work, she gives very clear instructions as to how these were to be used.
my aunt, her second granddaughter, recounted these instructions after her burial.
Apparently Taima wanted to wear one of the dresses and one pair of shoes and have one of the blankets cover her legs. the other dress the other pair of shoes and the other blanket were supposed to be set at her feet in the coffin. For years no one knew why these particular instructions were given. Until my aunt told us, Taima wanted to have a clean change of clothes and shoes so that once she reached the gates of the world of the dead, she can change into them. she said she wanted her husband to see her beautiful in a clean new dress.
MOHA (this will be a new friend's nickname until I find a proper codename for her) and I were talking about this story a few weeks ago and she said all her questions about me were answered by this one story. hahaha.
i guess this shapes how i look at life, the cards each one of us is dealt, how we deal with them, my choices and perhaps to a certain extent, how i am just unable to travel light!