Life After Life

I wrote about my grandmother's passing a couple of weeks ago. My mother sent me an e-mail describing what happened. I can't really do it much more justice, so I decided to copy the story in its entirety.

------

"When Grandma was in critical condition, her eyes were open the whole time. It seemed that she still could sense what was happening in the room. But, with the oxygen mask tight on her face and the machine pumping hard constantly, it really looked painful.  

Four days later, the most difficult part was when your father's siblings had to decide whether to send her to ICU or not.  That was on Sunday.

Three days later, Grandma was moved to the hospice room.  Her lung infection got worse. She was slipping away. But, somehow her eyelids were still open, even though her eyesight was no longer focusing on anything.

Everyone had gradually accepted the reality, except Grandpa. He sat by her bedside and still kept telling her, 'Be brave, hold on...'

Finally around 5:30 pm, your uncles and aunt all had arrived the hospital room and surround the bed.  Your father's two older cousins consulted with Grandpa outside the room for quite a while. Grandpa came in, sat by the bedside, and he started saying the same phrase : '你要堅強. (Be brave, be strong.)'  One of the cousins touched his back to remind him...  

Suddenly, Grandpa said: 'I really don't want to let you go, but now I have to. Let's get together again in our next life.' After he was saying these words, Grandma closed her eyes and the heart beat stopped.  

Even though we all have seen their quarrels over the years, at the end, the last scene made it a love story."