Remembering
Here is my eulogy. It feels strange reading these words again after I first did a couple weeks ago. I feel as if these are no longer my words. They no longer belong to just me.
The poet Emily Dickinson once wrote, “Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality.” Love is why I am standing here today, to share with all of you the love that my grandmother, Janice Wong, shared with me. My earliest memories with her are those of her babysitting me after preschool. I would walk into the kitchen and tell her stories from my day, what I learned, or whom I played with. She would look up from what she was doing and say, “Oh yeah?” with a knowing look. Everyday I would strive to have something new to tell her, for as wide as the gap in life is between a five year old and his grandmother, during those moments, I felt as though I could share a small part of my world with her, as she shared hers with me.
Grandpa was always the character, and Grandma always the composure. Grandma would often cook up delicious meals for our family and afterwards, we would sit around the dinner table exchanging stories and smiles. Grandpa would invariably share one of his own and I would always sneak a glance at Grandma, to see her amused smile and the ever-present twinkle in her eye. I treasured those fleeting moments because I knew, in those instances, all of our collective troubles and worries were gone, if only for just those split seconds. When Grandpa passed away, Grandma became the emotional backbone of our family. Her strength and resilience became our strength and resilience, and we grew closer than ever before.
Grandma and Grandpa raised four children, two sons and two daughters. Her children raised five grandchildren in turn. I am thankful Grandma was able to see us all grow and blossom into young adults. I am thankful that we have reached an age where we are old enough to recognize every sacrifice she made for us, for our entire family. We are her legacy and I know that within us , we each carry her love and spirit. We share her with every person we come into contact with. We share her with each other, recognizing the integrity of the common bond that holds us together, family.
Grandma was one person. We are many. Yet she was able to reach all of us in some way, shape or form. Her capacity to give was boundless, never asking anything in return. She demonstrated her love for us through her actions. These included every hug, and every smile, every laugh and every conversation. One could say she became more than just a person to us. She became an ideal for us to continually aspire to, a person who provided unfailingly, gave generously, and loved, loved unconditionally.
“Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality.” By sharing with each other the love that Grandma shared with us, her memory will forever live on in our hearts.
