In Memoriam

On April 26th, the only grandparent I've ever known passed away, just a month shy of her 100th birthday. Despite not knowing her as well as I would have liked, with her living in Thailand and only visiting us a few times when I was a child, I remember her being kind, a little bit mischievous and having a quiet strength that I can only imagine aided her in living such a long, full life.Though she came to visit us when I was three years old (and we took a trip to Disneyland apparently, which I remember nothing of), my first memory of her was on my very first visit to Thailand at the age of six. We were staying at her house and on our first morning there, she brought me a Thai dessert for breakfast, ขนมครก (khanom krok), a kind of fried coconut custard pudding. Maybe she knew that bringing me delicious foods was the way to my heart, for in this hot, sticky unfamiliar land that I had not yet begun to know, she brought me comfort and sweet, tasty goodness.There are other fun memories of course...I am told of the time when she was visiting Vancouver and we came home one afternoon to find her, at the age of 72, up our cherry tree with no ladder picking fruit without a care in the world. She owned a fruit orchard in Thailand, so such exploits were not uncommon. In 2009, we celebrated her 95th birthday and our Thai wedding in a joint celebration in Bangkok and were honoured to have her perform part of the ceremony.Rest well, Khun Yai. You are loved and missed.