Have you ever been so lonely that your grandparents were your only friends? I have.  I had just moved into a new American neighborhood and school from my original hometown in another country, and I barely knew anyone. I wanted a dog but I couldn’t have one, since we lived in a rented house.

Soon after we moved, my Grandpa O came to visit us from Shanghai. When we picked him up at the airport, he opened the car door and saw me. His first sentence, when he sat down and buckled up, was one that would have made anyone laugh; “Jeez, those Americans could out-eat the whole of China.” 

During his visit, we would excessively play board games, and when I was losing, Grandpa O would always go get water. That’s when I would snatch a few of his pieces, which allowed me to win. I never thought of it as suspicious at first, as time passed, I realized that he had been letting me take some of his pieces. Little did I know that was his way of showing his love to me.

I woke up early every morning, so that I could go to my grandfather’s room and talk to him. Grandpa O would be on his phone or reading a newspaper. We would discuss things like what he would do in the afternoon when I was at school. Grandpa O would always watch the news in China on CCTV5 and would report to me what was happening. I pretended to be interested, to make him happy.

In the afternoons, we walked to a nearby park. I would walk alongside Grandpa O as he recounted stories of life in China. When we first arrived at the park, I tried to sit on the swing and swing by myself, but I couldn't. Grandpa O helped me. Even though he wasn’t next to me, I still felt his warmth and love.

A few weeks after Grandpa O went home, Grandpa T arrived. We also took walks to the park. Grandpa T would point to specific birds that he saw and would tell me the names and their characteristics. One time on the way to the park, we even saw a Great Blue Heron. He didn’t know what it was, since those were not very common in Asia. So, it was my turn to explain to him.

Sometimes, when I couldn’t sleep, I would go to my grandfather’s room and he would talk to me about the stars. “This one is the Ursa Major,” I remember him saying as he pointed to the sky. On the last day of his stay, I sat next to Grandpa on his bed and dwindled off into sleep as he talked. The last words I heard him say was, “I will be leaving you physically, but I will never leave you in your mind.”

Those visits from my grandfather when I first moved to the States made a difficult time so much easier. They played with me when I was bored and lonely. They got up at 5:00 A.M. to make Chinese pancakes for me and they walked and talked with me. Despite having many friends now, I am deeply grateful for the happiness that my grandparents brought me during my first months in North Carolina, as I learned that anyone can be your best friend, no matter the age gap.