The first time I have ever seen my grandpa crying was our grandma’s funeral.
He had suffered from a heart disease and was asked to stay home to help stabilize his health condition instead of going to the funeral house where we waited for people to come and pay our grandma their last visit, saying their last goodbyes. A doctor, who is my mom’s friend, stayed home with my grandpa to take care of him.
When we took my grandma’s picture home for her last visit before taking her to the cemetery, my grandpa cried. He cried the tears of someone who was left, someone who had to see his companion who had shared with him so many memories for all those years, go away. Forever.
The image of my grandpa sitting there, his hand grip on the couch, breathing difficult following the counting of a doctor while his tears running down, is something I can never forget.
Coming to London for my study, I often drop by to see and buy books from the British Heart Foundation, an organization which invests money in researching for cures for heart diseases in many forms. One is because the books here are cheaper because they are donated books. Two is because I want to help contribute something, albeit really small, to what they are doing. I used to think that my donation means nothing until a few months ago I got to know that my donation to the ALS organization did make a difference. They found a vaccine for one form of ALS by using the donation made with the Ice Bucket challenge.
And today, more than a month before I go back to my country, I brought the books that I bought from here and from some other places here to donate. All are second-handed (or third, forth, I don’t know), and even if all sold, the money would hardly reach 20 pounds. A really small amount of money, but it is all I have and can do at this moment.
When taking the books, a cashier guy said:
– With this books, you can have a 25% voucher for your purchase later when you buy in our stores.
– Thank you, I said. I don’t think I need that. Just want to be sure that these books will go to the best readers.
– We will make sure of that. Thank you.
I hope those books will soon meet their new shelves, so I could have the feeling that I actually have done something good.
To help cure heart disease…
So my grandpa could say the last goodbye to my grandma…
Somewhere…
London 22.10.2016 10.25 AM
ilife.ijourney 
Reblogged this on Dieu Nguyen and commented:
Reading the first lines I thought it would be a “homesick post” or about memories with grandparents. It did have some but those were not the main point of the post. Anyway, thanks for letting others including me know about the foundation.
My grandpa has been seriously sick for 5, no, more than 6 years, since I entered university. This post somehow touches my heart and brings me back to the old days when Granpa drove me around the village, buying sweets and candies, on his bicycle friend.
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