What Is Meaningful To Me

This message was written in 2004. I've just updated it to be published again because I realized how much I miss my Grandma because of my travels and business commitments.
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(I would suggest to play the music if you like to get more value of what you're reading now)

My grandma turned 80 last April 2004.



We threw a huge dinner anniversary where all of our relatives are coming over to celebrate with her.

You should see how happy Grandma was on her 80th birthday dinner that time.

One of her sons, who is my uncle flew all the way from New Zealand just to see her on her birthday!

I'm telling you this because I want to share with you about love for our old folks. Mum or dad or grandma.

I'm happy she turned 80 three years ago. She's a strong woman.


Last night, I thought about grandma before I went to bed. That's why I had to write this message to share this insight with you before it's lost forever.

I woke up and started to remember those sweet memories I had with grandma when I was young. Grandma used to take me down to town. You see, I'm not from a family with silver spoon. So, going down to town and supermarkets was something I always looked forward to. During my time when I was a kid, shopping malls did not exist yet at my place.

We used to take the bus to the town. Then, we'd walk our way to the supermarkets!

Boy oh boy... that was fun.

I would head down straight to the toy department when I got there. That was all I had in mind.

Toys. Action figures. GI Joe's.

I was so happy when I was there. Especially looking at all of those action figures that I just wished I had them to play with (Children play computer games and Play Stations nowadays. Those were the days of action figures).

My favourites were He-Man, GI Joe and ThunderCats.

And also, Transformers. Those toys of robots that can transform into cars and trucks.

There was a toy called, 'The Mask', you may have heard of it before. But, it was really expensive for me to buy.

I could just sit there all day looking at the toys when I was a kid.

I'm happy enough just to see them. Of course, deep in my heart I always wanted to own them and play with my friends, but I didn’t have the money. I was young. If I have a dollar in my pocket to spend, I would king.

And I wouldn't ask mummy or daddy to buy them either.

I know daddy worked very hard each day driving a taxi to make a living for our family. Mum's a housewife. Daddy would come late after fetching customers on his trusty taxi to make a decent living for us.

I love dad and mum.

So, obviously, buying a toy was not in my mind at that stage.

But with grandma, she would buy it for me.

I don't know where she got her money back then. But I know when I went out with Grandma, I would get to come home with a toy. It didn't matter whether it was expensive or not, but I knew I'd not come home empty handed. Or, I'd have the chance to eat at McDonald's and take home one of those Happy Meals toys.

Of course, I didn't realized or asked myself, what did grandma do when I spent hours at that time looking at the toys and reading the toy's boxes?

Actually, grandma didn't care. She was just happy to see her grandchild smiling away and happy drooling all over those toys.

And yeah, I would get to eat junk food when I was with grandma. :)

I love grandma with all my heart. I just don't know how to stress how much it is in this text I'm writing here.

I would feel happy when I was with grandma.

Grandma was strong at that time when I was only a little boy.

But last month in 2007 when I visited grandma, I realized one thing.

Age does catch up with humans.

Especially after over 10 years +.

Humans tend to get old.

That's normal, I guess.

Grandma's walk is slower nowadays. Much slower.

She sleeps a lot too.

And when she speaks, she speaks really slowly.

She can't take buses anymore. No way. If she wants to walk fast, someone has to hold her hand and walk with her.

Sometimes, she forgets things.

That's part of life. People do grow old.

But missing the opportunity to be by the side of someone who loves you dearly when she or he grows old is one of the missed moments in life.

No time or money can ever replace that.

If you have a grandma, spend some time with her.

Because, time can pass so fast. You don't feel time passing when you are busy chasing your career and dreams. Or chasing your dream car. Or wanting to on stage as an international world-class speaker.

If you have a grandchild or children, spend time with them. Do understand, they love you as much as you love them. It's just that sometimes; people don't realize time passes so fast until it's too late.

End of the day, no matter how successful you are, you'll start to question what success is.

Would you believe me, true success is having the ability to spend time with your loved ones whenever you want?

Money is not success. It's only a part of success.

But because of the materialistic world we are living in, money has been placed as one of the main benchmarks to be considered as success.

Which is not true.

Here's the proof. I have money. But I can't have the loving moment I had with grandma 10 years ago.

Money is always important, but it doesn't have to be the benchmark of success.

It's just one of it.

Being loved, having love and giving love should be the benchmark of success.

I think I'll write a different article on the subject of success on other days.

But somehow, my heart tells me to write about loving someone who always loves you today.

If this article I have shared is mirrored in your life in any way, don’t wait. Take action.

Make a call.

Buy a gift.

Visit them.

Anything you can think of to capture every single moment of life that you can with your family and loved ones.

Remember, every minute counts.

Grandma's still the sweet old woman that I'll ever know-- and she'll always be.

I know you are not reading this, Grandma-- simply because you have no clue what's a computer or internet. Or English (smile). But if you can read this, I want to tell you how much I love you and cherish every single moment we have. I'm thankful that we'll still have many happy years to spend together and I look forward to take you out for a movie this weekend.

Love,

Patric Chan

P.S: If you have read anything you like here, I would appreciate if you can leave a Comment below. I read every single one of them personally. :-)



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