ERP 1: Personal Narrative

Question 1b) Write about your relationship with an elder person, and reflect on what aging means to you.

More often than not, my grandma will call me by Nicholas or Timothy when I am not. Nicholas is my cousin and Timothy is her godson, four and six years older than me respectively. We are all around the same height and wear spectacles. Though this might give an explanation for her common mistake, she is in fact much older.

When I last visited her, I could see that the passing of time had left more wrinkles on her face. Strands of the once black coloured hair had turned all white. Standing at the door, I looked at her and noted she was much older.

At that point in time she said in a soft voice, “Timothy, come on in. Come on in.”

I replied gently, “Grandma, I am not Timothy, I am Jonathan.”

“Oh yes, oh yes.” As she replied, I could see a tinge of disappointment in her eyes. She had hoped that her godson would visit her for she had not caught a glimpse of him for the past whole year.

As I closed the door behind me, she told me that she was going to prepare my favourite dish, "tofu with minced meat". Once again, I corrected her, stating that was Nicholas’s favourite dish.

Hearing that, she paused momentarily and replied, “Oh yes, oh yes. Maybe I should cook something else… ”

Noticing that, I realized that I should not have corrected her. Immediately, I reassured her, “Oh, Grandma, I would love to eat that, I have not tasted that for a long time.”

With that, a smile appeared on her face, and she continued to prepare the dish.

In less that an hour, my grandma had laid out a sumptuous meal on the dinner table for me. As I was consuming the food, my grandma reminisced about the past and began talking about the times when we were all younger, around 6 years ago.

6 years ago, this house was bustling with life. The three of us would always have so much fun together when we had sleepovers and grandma was always so delighted whenever we came over. She always enjoyed our company as we sat around her at night watching television programs.

However, these scenes do not take place anymore. We seldom visit her, not to mention coming over together.

Throughout this conversation, I sensed that she missed us and was feeling really lonely. It is this loneliness which is a torment to the elderly as they really treasure the kinships. Aging not only takes away their youth and looks, but it leaves them lonely, all by themselves as their family members, one at a time, take flight into the world, and seldom visit them anymore. This is reality and it really bites into them.

I felt that she had done much for us when we were young and it was only right for us to do something for her. So, deep down in my heart, I decided to get three of us together to visit her once again, something we should never have neglected and done long ago.