Nenek

It is a week to the day since my (paternal) grandmother died. My thoughts have been flitting to her this past week, at the oddest moments. My sisters and I were not particularly close to her until she fell really ill, and came to stay with us these past year, year and a half? I can’t remember. What I do remember is her, and her very unique character. I wouldn’t say that she was one of the fun-est person to be around; hell, her ornery nature made me positively cheerful in comparison. It’s just the little things that made me miss her. Like the way she wouldn’t get my sister and I, like how she eventually succumbed to hugs and kisses (much to the amusement and some shock of the extended family). Her perrinial need to know what went on, who entered or left the house – mcuh like a house guard. Yeah, it irritated me at the time, but that’s just nenek. (Coming to think of it, “That’s nenek, became a household phrase). I regret not being there in the end, though, even before she died I did miss her. She had become a real part of my family; funny how living with someone can change one’s perspectives. Still, I can’t say I’m too grief-stricken over her death; being doped up, in pain and unable to move was not very fun. Least of all for her.