This is Dou's great granny, or Lao Ma, as the little one would call her.
She lives in a nursing home and we visit her weekly, mostly on Saturdays after dou's class or our outing. One day, the little one asked me why lao ma lived in a nursing home and not at home. I told her it was because she needed medical help but truth be told, it's because she has too many children. When everyone thinks its everyone else's responsibility to take care of the old folk, it becomes a little tricky. But I'll save this part for the future when she understands the intricacies of it all.
In the mean time, we'll bring her here weekly to visit her great grand ma. It always brings smiles to lao ma, her own ah ma (my mum) and the grannies at the nursing home.
It's strange why we don't see little children in nursing homes. People tend to avoid bringing them there, don't they? After all, not many people would want to expose their children to old age, sickness, loneliness and death. Many of lao ma's neighbours "disappear" and on their beds are "new" gong gongs and por pors. I'm sure one day, we'll have to grapple with dou's questions about sickness, death and old age. She's already asking us why some old people are on wheel chairs, why they have to eat on their beds and like most of us, she's fearing old age and sickness.
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