Fond Memories

     

        Hugging the photograph album to myself, tears streamed down my cheeks uncontrollably as I thought of my grandmother. She was ninety-five years old when she died from a heart attack. Her health had been deteriorating over the years and her death was unexpected. I was upset that she had passed away but thoughts of happy childhood memories filled my mind.

 

          “Come on, Anthony! The food is getting cold!” Grandmother shouted from downstairs. I grinned at her as I peeked around the kitchen door. Seeing me, Grandmother came over, tousled my hair and carried me up in her strong arms. She was already seventy but she was stronger than anyone else I knew. Putting me in my special chair, she lifted the cover to reveal a plate with food that she had creatively arranged into a smiling face. The face was made of rice and the eyes were made of two round mushrooms. The nose was a long stalk of vegetable and the mouth was a tomato. Minced meat was used to make the hair. One day, I saw the same picture in a Japanese magazine and realised that Grandmother had copied what Japanese ladies were doing to make the food more appealing to children. For years, Grandmother experimented with different designs to make my food more appetising.

 

          Opening the photograph album, I flipped through the pages, smiling at those of Grandmother and me at the beach. I thought back fondly to those times when Grandmother took me to the beach almost every evening. My parents were busy at work so Grandmother and I packed a picnic basket with food for dinner. She taught me how to build magnificent sandcastles with towers and forts. Together, we also found countless number of seashells along the seashore. What I enjoyed most about those trips was watching the sunset with Grandmother while munching on sandwiches and slurping her homemade sugarcane drink. I never failed to finish everything that she had prepared.

 

          Closing the photograph album, I put it back into my drawer. It was time for bed. I wished I could call Grandmother before I went to bed like I used to in the past. She would tell me a joke and a story over the phone. When Grandmother became ill, she did not talk much to anyone. She became sullen and sometimes did not answer me when I spoke to her. However, I always tried my best to cheer her up. I thought of Grandmother in the days just before her death. She was suffering badly. I knew that death was better for her.

 

431 words

Some words are taken from the composition and put in Quizlet (below) for students to learn.