Xindian

canon ae-1 
canon 35mm fd
fujicolor superia 400

i hadn't been back in taiwan for more than 15 years. one day we paid grandma a visit, she lived at taipei's southernmost metro station - xindian - a small neighborhood in the hills. it was a long journey to get there, we took the metro, then a bus, the rest was on foot. almost reaching there - climbing up those stairs - i was already filled with excitement. so i couldn't imagine how my father was feeling. then he instantly let out a cry, mom i'm home! we opened the front door, no one there. but suddenly the memories started flooding back, the kitchen, the plants, that spiral staircase. finally we found her, just casually sitting there watching tv in her room. she didn't recognize me until dad introduced me. grandma just stared at me like a ghost. she couldn't believe the little boy in that photograph on her vanity was now standing before her. that was her last memory of me. a few days later, my father took me to grandpa's cemetery which he built with his bare hands. he wrote the headstone epitaph. grandpa had passed away suddenly from a stroke. it was terribly hot that day. my father sat in the shade probably thinking about the past. grandpa passed away in 1989, i was born two years later.