It was raining outside on the second day of Chinese Lunar January, but it didn’t stop us to visit our dear grandpa who lives about 10 kilometers away. My father, brother, sister and I drove two motorcycles there. It was not very cold fortunately.

My grandpa lives alone in an old adobe house where he and grandma raised six children. The house is simple and crude, with floor and walls unpainted. The furniture inside the house is old-fashioned, except a big second-hand TCL brand TV which was provided by my aunt (my mom’s sister). There are two big photos of him and grandma hanging on one wall together. On the other wall, there are full of posters with the image of soldiers and a calendar printed in the lower part. Grandpa went to war when he was young. He is provided with a new poster and some veteran benefits every year end. As I looked around, I found that everything almost remained the same as 20 years ago when I was a kid. I guess grandpa misses the old times when grandma was still there and deeply loves the place where he and grandma spent most of their lives. He folds the quilt in a special triangle just like grandma did before. He insists live in the old place alone instead of living with my uncles in their new houses. He wished that we could go to grandma’s tomb to pay a New Year call, which we didn’t do on that day because grandma’s tomb is on a hill and the road was full of mud due to the raining. My father and brother went there three days later and he was very happy.

Grandpa treated us with a lot of delicious food, some of which he is not able to eat due to his decayed teeth. From the way he looked at us and the smile on his face when we were enjoying the food, I know that he especially prepared them for us.

Grandpa spent a week in Changsha before the Spring Festival. My elder cousin, a very filial grandson, invited him to his new home in Changsha. He took grandpa to many places, such as the Orange Isle(橘子洲头), Yuelu Mountain(岳麓山), the Window of the World(长沙世界之窗) etc. Grandpa also boarded on the subway to experience the new way of transportation in Changsha. “Haha…Tao(My elder cousin) is so worried that I would fall that he grabbed my arm very tightly!” Grandpa laughed when he told us his experience. When he knew that we haven’t been to those places and that it was Tao’s first time to visit those places after living in Changsha for almost five years, he shook his head, “You all are busy making money and forget to enjoy life!” We replied together, “Grandpa, you are so right!” Then we burst into laughter.

Grandpa will soon step into his 80s, but he is still hale and healthy. Mom always said, in our family grandpa is the only old people who have seen and enjoyed the new and modern life. His six children will throw him a big birthday party. All our distant and close relatives will gather together to celebrate his birthday. He is quite expecting it I know.

It was a valuable experience to visit and chat with grandpa. He is very cute in my eyes. It is true that an old is a treasure to the family. I wish grandpa a happy birthday and a long and healthy life.