This is my Grandpa’s favorite chair. He would sit here when watching TV. He would sit here when having a talk with us in the living room. He would sit here when taking an afternoon breather. This was my Grandpa’s chair.
My cousins and I didn’t dare sit on it when our grandfather was around. It was his throne. It was his seat.
When he passed away, nobody wanted to sit on the chair. We continued to sit on the couch and the chairs around it. He was no longer there to occupy that seat, but still, it was his. It IS his.
I miss my Grandpa. That was the chair he was sitting on when I first introduced him to my fiance. Our car broke down after a quick visit to my grandparents, and we had to stay another hour or two while the mechanic worked on our car. It was midnight, but he graciously waited in the living room with us. He asked my fiance questions, did the typical grilling of new blood in the family. I remember that night clearly. My Grandpa was seated in that chair.
It’ll be almost four years now, since he passed away.
The last words I told him were, “I love you.” It was over the phone. They were leaving for the U.S., he and my grandma. They were going to visit family and consult some doctors. He never was the demonstrative or expressive type, and so I tried to be the same to him. But during that phone call, four months before he died, I bid him Bon Voyage! and “I love you.”
He just laughed and I knew that his way of saying he loved me too.
This chair, we sit on it now. We know it is his, but we no longer feel the awkwardness of staying in it. While this chair will have new stories to tell, it is his. It will always be his.
This is my Grandpa’s favorite chair.
I miss you, Wowo.
Hi! I'm Toni Tiu,
and I've been blogging at
at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.
hazel
March 12, 2008 at 5:14 pm (16 years ago)hey I was just about to write something about my grandpa too… it was his birthday yesterday, he died last year, 20 days after his birthday where incidentally all of his children were able to make it here.
miss him too
Gracey
March 12, 2008 at 6:38 pm (16 years ago)I wish I knew my grandfathers. One passed away even before my mom married my dad, and the other, when I was 5. But thank God for grandmothers. I have wonderful memories with them.
I’m sorry to hear about your grandpa but I’m sure he is happy wherever he is, knowing that he is loved and remembered.
antipatika
March 12, 2008 at 7:34 pm (16 years ago)I got teary eyes on this, iba talaga pag mga lolo’t lola. I miss my grandmother, she passed away last July, and my daughter..she’s calling my grandmother, wowa. =)
Pinky
March 12, 2008 at 10:11 pm (16 years ago)Written like a true-blue lolo’s girl – takes one to know one 😉 Though my grandfather passed away 18+ years ago, I still remember him fondly – quirks and all! My only regret was that he never got to know my husband as we got together a year after he died.
Another thing we have in common – my kids call my dad “Wowo” too…
Rachel
March 13, 2008 at 6:41 am (16 years ago)you’re such a sweet apo ate toni. i missed my lolo too.
bea santiago
March 13, 2008 at 4:18 pm (16 years ago)<3