Your rice pudding is waiting for you … This sentence should remind me all my life how important it is to visit the family. How much it works, however, is to deny.
I want to share a story with you that has happened to me and what makes me sad every time I think of it …
The story behind
A long time ago I was in Turkey and visited my now deceased Grandpa. He was incredibly happy and served me one of his homemade rice pudding. We talked and I ate about two spoons of rice pudding.
When we finished our conversation, the rice pudding had not finished eating yet and I said goodbye to my grandfather to meet my friends.
At some point after a few weeks I met my grandfather by chance and he said to me: My grandson your rice pudding is still waiting for you. I smiled and we talked for a while. At some point my grandfather came to Germany and I had not visited him until then.
When it became clear that my grandfather would not ever live in his house in Turkey again during his lifetime, and the electricity in his house was turned off.
A few years later
After a few years I was back in Turkey and the people I was with wanted to empty my grandfather’s apartment because it had been uninhabited for so long.
We took the key and went in. The visit should serve to get an idea of how much work it will be to take everything out. After we had looked at all the rooms, the kitchen was the turn. The refrigerator door was opened and there was my half rice pudding I had left at the time with my grandfather on the table … Your rice pudding is waiting for you… I can not get out this moment out of my head.
I remember a woman saying, why is he dropping his half-eaten rice pudding? What’s that? Look how it stinks! However, at that moment, I was so lost in thought that I did not get to answer her.
The teachings
This experience has taught me a lot in life and I would like to share with you what it has taught me.
Understand the wordless love
There are people who just not talk so much and can not show their love so well, but when it comes to action, these people are behind you and will not let anything happen to you.
When my grandfather just said that my rice pudding is waiting for me, that was actually a very big step by his standards, but I could not understand that at the time. This event also taught me to recognize such small details.
Do not take too much time
Unfortunately, you can not learn about experiences that affect time in any book or school. You have to make that experience and learn lessons from it.
When my mother said back then that I should visit my grandfather more often and that you never know how long he has to live, she spoke from experience. But I did not know (understand) that pneumonia could kill my grandfather within a week.
Do not speak without knowing
The woman who spoke badly about my grandfather could not know why half the bowl of rice pudding is there and just started talking. However, there is a German proverb: Ignorance does not protect against punishment.
You should never talk bad about someone or even think bad. No matter how much you get out of knowing this person, there can always be something else behind what seems obvious to you.
