Memories Of You

My grandpa always said,” If you lose something that you love, it will always find its way back to you” 

I believed that all my life until I lost him. I know it is silly to wait for him, I know it is silly to wait for him to tie my shoelace so that I can go to school, I know it is silly to wait for him to wake me up with a hot cup of ginger tea every morning, I know it is silly to wait for him to belt me for not putting bindi, I know it is silly but I can’t help but be selfish. Out of the 84 beautiful years of his life, I was honoured to be part of 18 of those and I can’t thank God enough for that. I call my grandpa that aji and every time I call him he would reply with a “yes” and that yes would light my mood up to the spark of a thousand fireworks. No matter what mood he was in, he always was happy and excited to see me come back home from school. When I was young he used to tie my shoelace and carry my basket as my sister and I would wait for the van to come every morning to go to school. He was proud of everything that I did no matter how big or small it was. I once got 3 stars in my English book for writing neatly and the moment I told my grandpa about it, he felt so proud that he took me in his arms and gave me a pat on my back. He used to spoil me with his ginger tea every morning and my parents were always mad about me drinking tea that young but I couldn’t care less because that tea was amazing and I swear no one can make as good ginger tea as my grandpa, neither can I, trust me I’ve tried.

And summers were the best! I, my grandpa and my sister would have ice cream late in the night when everyone in the house fell asleep yet forget to throw away the cups after eating and we always got caught the next morning. But now icecreams at night don’t taste that good with him not being around to share it with. It has been 3 months since he is gone and these memories are still as fresh as the scent of night queens in my backyard. Those were my grandpa’s favourite kind. I have had my share of good memories with him and I am happy for him because the last stages of his life were misery to him as he was completely bedridden and was unable to talk to me about all the silly things he did back in the day or tell me how proud he was about the things I did or eat his favourite food. But the only regret I have is that I never told him how much I loved him and now there is not a single day that passes by where I don’t walk up to his photo hanging on the wall in my living room and tell him that I love him and that I am sorry that I never had the courage to say those three words to him when he was around. So be sure to let the people you love know how much they matter to you or how grateful you are to them for being part of your life and cherish every memory because sometimes you lose things that you love that don’t come back to you.