Saturday, June 21, 2008

Farewell to my grand uncle 15

I have a huge family. My dad's side is big (13 uncles and aunts), but on my mom's side, it's crazy big. We're talking 19 siblings in my grandfather's generation. To explain, my great-grandfather had 4 wives (older Chinese times my friends). So, it's 19 siblings divided among 4 women. I guess it shouldn't be too shocking - after all, there is that family in Texas who has 18 children and just the two parents. So, kudos to my dad's parents who had my 13 uncles and aunts on their own.

In Chinese, we don't refer to uncles and aunts by their names in a situation like this. You don't say this in English, but in Chinese we call them uncle or aunt followed by their birth order.

With all that said, I just found out from my mom that my grand uncle 15 recently passed away in Toronto, Canada. I didn't know him well, but as he was one of the closer brothers with my grandfather, I had the opportunity to see him more often than my other grand uncles and aunts.

My grand uncle 15 used to perform magic tricks for me. They were simple tricks, but as a kid, I was amazed - and every opportunity when I saw him, I wanted a new magic trick. I remember he gave me a Donald Duck doll too. I guess my memory of him is that he made me laugh, and he was someone who did things that boggled my mind - and in a way, I loved him for that.

I will miss you grand uncle.

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