Great Grandpa Chang

Brianna and Jordan's Great Grandpa passed away on Monday May 5th, 2008. He was my Grandpa, and lived with us for a while while I was a boy growing up in Kitchener. He lived til the age of 96 (- his birth certificate papers state 1915 as his birth year, but it was actually 1912). He was a very very good Grandpa and Great Grandpa to our kids. He was buried last Saturday, May 10th.

I’d like to share a few early, fuzzy, but happy memories I had of my grandpa as he lived with us in Kitchener.

Spending time with my grandpa.

I was probably 4 or 5 years old when he took me on a bus to Forest Hill plaza in Kitchener for an afternoon ice cream sundae, and that we walked back to our house on Westheights Drive. I remember that I got to go, and my sister Maria, nor my parents were with us. (Sorry Anita, I don’t believe you were born yet.)

I don’t remember anything profound about our trip, nor anything of our conversations, nor any jewels of wisdom from that day. I just remember spending time with my grandpa. It was probably a long time with my grandpa, likely the whole afternoon as I was probably 4-5 years old, and probably not the fastest walker. I just remember walking with my grandpa.

Growing up, Anita, Maria and I were all fortunate to live in the same city, and for a while under the same roof as our grandpa.

I remember my grandpa for his Love, Forgiveness and Wisdom, and I`ll share with you this story.

Canadian currency has always been the ‘funny’ money. Unlike Americans, our money has always been colour coded.

Back in the late 70’s, we had this bright red bill. It had a picture of Mounties on horses in a circle formation on one side. It had the number five-zero on the front. $50 in the late 70’s is approximately $160 today because of inflation.

I remember one of the neighborhood kids was having a sale. I don’t remember if it was a garage sale, or a bake sale or a lemonade sale. I do remember not having any money to buy anything from this sale. But being a resourceful, albeit unethical child, I knew that my grandpa would likely have money, and where his wallet was. Unfortunately, he wasn’t home to ask for some money, so being resourceful, I just helped myself. Apparently, I picked the red coloured money - the one that had the nice picture of horses on it, and the number 50 on the front.

I guess our neighbors parents found it unusual to have a $50 bill in their kitty from their kids’ lemonade sale, and they deduced that it had come from me. It was returned to my parents. At family dinner that night, my parent’s quick detective work had led them to figure out the culprit was me. It was not a pleasant dinner for me.

That evening, my grandpa didn’t get mad at me, or upset at me for stealing his money. He still loved me, and gave me treats. He had forgiven me. But being wise, from then on, he kept his wallet out of my reach.

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My grandpa and Online shopping

I am an addict of online shopping. I love buying stuff online, especially if it's cheaper than what's available in 'brick and mortar' stores. You just click, and it arrives at your door a few days later.

The predecessor to online shopping was mail order, and for a young boy, the ads in the back of comic books were the equivalent of today’s Amazon, bestbuy.ca or Craigslist.

My grandpa helped fuel my fire to become an online shopper. When I was a boy, Spiderman was one of my heros. Spiderman was a live action TV series, as well as on the Saturday morning cartoons.

One of the ads in the comics was for a spider glove that would squirt water, similar to how Spidey could shoot webs. I really wanted this ‘toy’, but my parents had said no. I turned to my grandpa for help. Being the smartest of the grandkids, I figured out at a young age that grandpas generally spoil their grandchildren.

I remember him helping me to cut out the ad, fill out the form, address and then mail off the envelope. Through this process together, he fed my desire to purchase items ‘not available in stores’. Although the spider glove didn’t work out (I think it leaked), his help back then still sticks in my mind.

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Peace and Quiet.

As we got older, our house got busier and louder. My grandpa decided that it was time to move out. Like most grandparents, he loved his grandchildren, but grandchildren are better when taken in smaller doses. He stayed in the KW area, 1^st at an apartment at Westmount and Ottawa St, and then to an apartment at Erb and University.

When he 1^st moved out, he still kept his mailing address at my parents. He would drop in a couple times a month to pickup his mail. We would come home from school at lunchtime, and he would be sitting in a chair in the dining room, reading a newspaper, or napping. He was always happy to see us, and would often have treats for us. He was always proud of our achievements, and would always say “that’s good” to my sisters, or “that’s very good” - which applied to me.

Those are the memories of my grandpa while growing up.

When I returned to KW after University, I would sometimes make appointments with my grandpa to take him grocery shopping. His favourite store was Food Basics. I would help him buy groceries, and can share some of his secrets with you on how to live into your 90’s.

One of the secrets to longevity is diet. My grandpa was always a very healthy eater. On our trip to the grocery store, he would buy Quaker Oats brand oatmeal, white rice, banana’s, vegetables (tomatoes and romaine lettus) , canned soup, a carton of milk, a little bit of chicken and eggs, and that was pretty much it. - There was no beer, there were no potato chips, there were no oreo cookies, no huge pieces of well marbled red meat. No CocaCola, no Diet Coke. - unfortunately, all these are my staples.

He was always happy, content, and gave us positive reinforcement.

He was a quiet man, but often had a hearty laugh when he would see us..

He remained fit by walking almost daily to Tim Horton’s from his apartment which was a 6km round trip. He stayed independent, and avoided living in a retirement or nursing home.

With the advent of the internet, my sisters and I would often communicate via MSN messenger. We would always refer to grandpa as “GP” on MSN, when arranging dinners or family get-togethers.

Unfortunately 3 weeks ago, he had to be admitted to the hospital, suffering from delirium and needed to be sedated.. However, in the end, his delusions cleared up. On my last visit, a few days before his passing he was much better. He recognized his family in the pictures at his bedside, and even recognized his Great-grandkids. He was happy. He kept on insisting it was either Happy New Year, or someone’s birthday. And he still was able to smile.

I share these memories with you of my grandfather, because I want you to be happy for him. He is now in heaven with God, looking down on us. He is probably still smiling.

He smiling because he lived a very long and healthy life and now he gets to rest. He watched his grandkids growup, he was able to spoil them, he watched them get married, and even got to meet 3 Great Grand kids. There are very few of us on this earth who got can say they got to do these things.

We were fortunate to spend some many years with him.

Thanks Grandpa.