My grandmother was very old and had lost her vision. I had been her pet since I was born. After my marriage and child birth, I had not seen her for over a year and half. I came on a holiday with my fifteen-month old son and went to see her. She was happy to hear my voice and asked me if I was happy and healthy. Then when I told her that I had brought Jai to meet her, she put the little boy on her lap and touched his face, nose, ears and read his appearance. And she commented that he was a child of the clan as he had the distinctive nodule on his ears that was a characteristic feature of my paternal family.
My granddaughters, Jai’s girls, visited me last weekend. The little one Madhura had gone to sleep when we were visiting my sister-in-law. When she woke up it was time to leave and she got on to my lap in the front seat of the car. I had one of those wet towelettes that airlines give you in my bag as I had traveled by plane recently. I gave it to her to freshen up as our next stop was another family visit. She happily took the scented tissue and took her time nicely cleaning up her face. Then she said, “Patti, feel my face. Is it nice and soft now?”
Four generations—and the ‘touch’ still plays an important part of our interaction.
Welcome to the Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium where Anu, Ashok, Conrad, Delirious, Gaelikaa, Grannymar, Magpie11, Paul, Maria the Silver Fox, Rummuser , Will Knott, Shackman and I write on the same topic. Please do visit the linked blogs to get different flavors of the same topic.
I am sure you are enjoying a very touching few days among family from many generations, with stories of love and laughter to touch and warm your heart.
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Great reunion–with fights and arguments about whose version of past recollections was more authentic/detailed!!
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I’m sure she enjoyed your touch as much as you enjoyed touching her.
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Oh yes! She loves a hug as much as I do!!
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Such a tender story of family connections, Padmini. So real. I can see Madhura wiping her little face, looking to you to check her out when she was done. Even the back and forth about the past made me laugh.
Blessings ~ Maxi
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Patti had that wonderful way with her. She did that with Ranjan too.
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It was my eternal joy to have taught English to Patti. I remember her repeating Jam Bloody fool every time she heard the word Jam! She had her own pocky sense of humour and would point out the idiosyncrasies of her son (our father) without ever being mean.
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