Passing the torch: one generation to the next
Early in the morning, father sent me a message: "Grandma passed away last night. Your mother has decided not to go back." The news did not come suddenly. But I'm deeply ashamed at how lightly I took it upon hearing that the 88-year-old refused to go to bed one night recently, unless she was dressed for her passage to the other world.
She staged the same drama several times, annoying my second aunt - mother has four younger sisters and two younger brothers back in Chongqing municipality - who has been taking care of her since grandpa passed away in 1994.
Mother doesn't want to attend the funeral as she is vexed with her siblings' quarrels. The fourth uncle and sixth aunt, who live in the countryside, were unhappy as the second aunt sold grandma's old house to a neighbor for 3,000 yuan ($440).
