Level 5

The High Esteem Person- My Grandmother 

Everyone will meet a special person in their life. Maybe this person is your family member, your friend, your colleague, an admirer, or a famous person. For me, my special person in my life is my grandmother. In my mind, she is a mentally strong, optimistic, independent person. My grandmother also  impacted me to make me the person I am today.

My grandmother had experienced too many sad things in her life. When she was seventeen years old, her parents passed away the same night. Moreover, my grandmother lost three of her children when she was a mother. I think the saddest thing is  being a mother and then losing your children. She has cried alone at night many times. However, my grandmother always smiles and has a positive attitude every day. 

My grandfather had worked in another city, and my grandmother wanted  to devote more time to family and children. Thus, my grandmother missed the opportunity to work. Instead, she made handmade shoes and insoles, and sold them to make money. Even though she just made a little money, she supported our family every day. As a child while I was sleeping, my grandmother was wearing reading glasses and making crafts to prepare the shoes and insoles every night. Her hands were always so rough, especially every winter, there were many cracks in her hands. My grandmother didn’t have retirement pay. When she was over eighty years old, she still made handmade shoes and insoles for selling. My dad and my aunts told my grandmother many times to stop making them. In spite of that, my grandmother always said that she wanted to be independent and she didn't want to become a burden to the children. 

I lived with my grandmother much longer than my parents. Therefore, I love my grandmother very dearly, and I liked to communicate with my grandmother much more than my parents. My grandmother is someone that I hold in high esteem because she taught me a lot of life skills, and my grandmother’s words and deeds have always influenced me. For example, my grandmother taught me how to cook, how to save money, and my grandmother told me to live a good life when I moved here. As my son got bigger, I passed on these wise words to my son.

In conclusion, when someone asks me about a person I know, I will instinctively think about my grandmother. My grandmother was small and she had foot-binding. However, my grandmother supported the family with her rough hands and strong heart. My grandmother has been gone for nine years, but my grandmother's strong heart, her independence, her optimistic attitude touches my heart, and I will remember her forever! 

Written by: Jing Qi