Childhood is like a dream, watching the shadow of the sun walking from one side of the house to the other, listening to the sound of the leaves whirling, and watching the rain pouring in from the eaves. Time has slipped away quietly like this. I still remember my grandma and me. One is ninety years old and the other is four or five years old. In the late 1990s, she supported me to grow up and I accompanied her through the journey of life. A life is like a small tree that grows taller and stronger; a life is like an old tree that falls slowly and silently.
I grew up living with my mother at my grandma’s house. I don’t have a very specific impression of my grandmother. When she passed away in the late 1990s, I was only five years old. My deepest memory of my grandmother is the vivid black and white portrait and the portrait hanging high on the wall of the living room. She steamed fragrant wild vegetable rolls.
In our hometown, every household hangs the portraits of their deceased elders in the hall. The grandma in the painting is very kind, with delicate features and neat white hair combed behind her ears. When I was a child, every time I ran home from outside, the first thing I saw was my grandmother's kind smile. At that time, my grandmother always smiled and said: "Tingting is back. Come, grandma will give you a big white rabbit." When I was a child , just like the sweetness of the white rabbit candy, mixed with the taste of grandma's love.
In the whole family, my mother is the youngest and the most loved by my grandparents. After my grandmother passed away, my mother missed her very much, so when she had nothing to do, she always liked to tell me about my grandmother's life. things.
From my mother’s narration, I gradually learned that my grandmother’s family was very poor when she was a child. When she was 14 years old, she was sent to my grandfather’s house by my grandfather. There were many children in the grandfather’s family at that time, but my grandfather didn’t know about it. Due to the situation, she was sent away, saying that since there were fewer people at home, she could save food rations. Grandma suffered a lot since she was a child. She didn't have enough to eat when she got married, so she often dug wild vegetables to satisfy her hunger, and had to farm in the fields during the day. Fortunately, my grandpa was good to my grandma. He was an honest and responsible person, taciturn and rarely spoke. Apart from doing carpentry work in the village and earning money to support the family, he didn’t worry about anything else, so the whole family was kept inside and out. Grandma takes care of all the housework outside. In my memory, my grandma loved to be clean. All the objects in the house were always neatly arranged and kept spotless.
When I was a child, my grandmother always told me to cherish food and cherish the happy life I have now, so my habit of thrift is also thanks to my grandmother’s cultivation. Grandma told me that they were in the age of eating from a big pot. Everyone said that the era of communism had arrived, so every household happily smashed the small pot and handed it to the brigade. The brigade built a big pot for the men, women, and children of the small group to eat and drink. Although everyone was in charge, everyone's bowl was full. Very rare. In order for my uncle and aunt to be full, my grandparents always gave them the thick food left in the bowl. Fortunately, when my mother was born, every family started eating small pot meals again. In that era, every household had limited food stamps. There would come a time when the family was too poor to open the pot. When there was no food, they could only eat wild vegetables and gnaw tree bark. Grandma would carry a basket to the fields every morning. Dig some wild vegetables in the house and cook them into wild vegetable soup when you come back at noon. Grandma said that the family’s food was still very delicious at that time!
The journey of reform and opening up has allowed the Chinese nation to stand tall again in the world of nations with a new attitude; the vicissitudes of the reform years and the glorious course of the reform years have forged a nation's dream of nearly a hundred years. With the advent of reform and opening up, the family's life has also changed a lot. Grandma served as the mediator of the neighborhood committee. A woman who was born as a child bride and could not read a word must have been very encouraged when she entered the new society and was recognized by the party and the government. My mother said that my grandma likes to laugh. When she talks to people, she often bursts into laughter before the words are spoken, so she is a particularly approachable person. She is also enthusiastic, conscientious, and trustworthy. , so the neighbors in the village like to deal with her, and no matter who has a problem, they are willing to come to her to mediate. I think it was precisely because of this that the commune leaders gave her the work of the neighborhood committee.
Grandma has always been conscientious and conscientious in her voluntary work. No matter who comes, even if she is eating, she will follow the person who comes. She will not return until the conflict is resolved and she has helped them finish their work. Home. I heard from my mother that one time Granny Zhang, who lives next door, was sick. At that time, her children all went out to work, and she was the only one at home. When my grandmother found out about this, she took out the brown sugar from the house and gave it away, and also took the medicine that my grandfather had bought before. go. Grandpa was not very supportive of Grandma's position. When someone came to see her, he frowned and said nothing. Then Grandma smiled and said she would be back later. In fact, Grandpa felt sorry for Grandma and didn't want her to be so tired. . Grandma is really dedicated to her work. After being busy at home and busy outside, she has no time to relax all day long.
Grandma is a strong woman. Although she is ordinary, she was born as a child bride and cannot read a single word, but she embodies many virtues of Chinese women: diligence, tolerance, generosity, and kindness. . In the family's impression, grandma is always positive. No matter how depressed she is, no matter how difficult she encounters, she will leave her laughter to others. At that time, my grandmother would squeeze out time to play cotton, spin and weave cloth every day, and think of various ways to earn money to support the family. When my aunt got married, she made the entire dowry by her own hands, weaving the threads into colorful floral cloths, and then made the cloths into quilts and clothes. She often told her mother that it was not easy for her grandfather to earn money to support the family, so she could not afford to have an idle meal.
Grandma came from a poor era and had developed a habit of digging wild vegetables. Even after life improved, grandma would still go to the fields to dig some wild vegetables and come back. As a greedy little cat, I always like to eat wild vegetable rolls steamed by my grandma. Grandma will chop the wild vegetables, mix them with chili peppers and seasonings, add cooked oil to make a filling, and finally roll the filling inside with noodles and put it in a big pot. Steamed inside. When the pot is boiled, a tangy aroma comes to my nose, and I am always the first to eat it impatiently. At this time, my grandma will always say dotingly: "Be careful, no one will compete with you." After so many years, the taste of the wild vegetable rolls made by my grandma has always been in my heart.
In the blink of an eye, the long years spent with grandma have been lost silently like sand tightly grasped in the hand. However, when the sand is lost, you can grab another handful; when the flowers wither, you can wait until the next spring to bloom again; as time goes by, you can never look back. One autumn morning in the late 1990s, grandma went to heaven. She went to heaven, like an angel.
"Grandma's life is hard, but she is not afraid of hardship!" My mother's simple words made me deeply appreciate my grandmother's strength. In the face of a difficult life, she lived a simple but wonderful life with her optimism, hard work, and love for her family and neighbors.