1) Since we were 12
I first met her when we were 12.
We were about to begin junior I at Taichung Girls’ High School.
She was like a shining star, very popular in the school.
We didn’t know each other well
until the second encounter at Ming Dao High School
when we both graduated from different colleges
and came back to our hometown
to take the first teaching job in life.
A shining star still she was.
A life-long bound has been built ever since then.
Like a thread in our hearts,
we had kept in touch no matter where we were
until June 7, 2009, last Sunday.
She went to Heaven.
2) A sincere person
She likes to speak her mind.
It is hard to find deceitful words from her mouth.
We, a bunch of good friends in Ming Dao High School,
shared life with one another.
Through her,
we know her loving parents,
her three beautiful sisters,
her smart brother,
even her favorite students.
We feel like part of each other.
That is a wonderful feeling,
a sense of belonging.
3) A passionate wife and mother.
She came to my house in sneakers and shorts
when I came back to Taiwan after a long absence.
She had become a wife and mother.
She told me about her son’s drawing talents
and how well her daughter dances.
She told me she has a good husband.
She is quite proud of being what she was then.
Her love, being a mother, keeps her family growing
and extends to whoever her children love.
Years later, she loves her daughter-in-law as much as she does to her son.
She told me how grateful she felt
when her grandson came to the world safely before the due day
and her daughter-in-law Lily was fine!
She loves her son-in-law, Hero, very much.
She was thankful for
Hero and Pei-Pei’s moving back to Taiwan to accompany her.
4) A Romantic lady
I can’t tell seasons here;
every season seems as hot as summer to me, but she could..
Once she told me she had to do some shopping for spring dresses
to make herself more beautiful.
She remodeled her house upon her retirements,
because her son helped her with all the designs.
5) A brave fighter
For the past eight years,
she had been a fighter with breast cancer.
I have never heard of any complaints from her.
“I am fine.” Every time I called, she always said that.
Her hair fell after chemotherapy.
She showed me the wigs she bought pleasantly.
She always dresses up herself gorgeously.
Only once she told me
not to take Hormone Replacement Therapy
as she did by following the doctor’s instruction.
6) Farewell
I visited her on June 1, last Monday.
She almost lost her eyesight then.
I couldn’t stop my falling tears.
Lucky me she didn’t see me.
She greeted me happily as usual.
She told me she felt dizzy when getting up.
She wanted me to come over often.
“Sure I will do.” I said.
On June 6, last Saturday.
She lost her speaking ability.
I took her soft hands, she squeezed me back.
I brought with me a hymn book and a bible.
I came to say good bye. I sang to her Psalm 23.
For the past decades,
she had been a good daughter to her parents,
a good sister to her siblings,
a good wife to her husband,
a good mother to her children,
a great grandmother to her grandson,
and a very good friend to all of us.
On the evening of that day,
I searched on the Internet and accidentally found out
her students in Taichung Technical College leaving some words
on the website and wish her to come back to teach them.
She had been an excellent professor as well.
She became to be a Christian while fighting the cancer.
She told me she really enjoyed reading the bible and the fellowship.
