After Grandpa Passed Away, He Took Beautiful Flower Field Photos for Grandma, So the Rest of Her Life Would Have No Regrets and He Could Accompany Her in His Place

Recently, the annual Moments photo contest kicked off, and April's feed was flooded with all kinds of beautiful shots: sunny beaches, ancient towns, Disneyland... Groups of friends hitting the road together, smiling brightly.

April noticed that young people prefer traveling with friends, yet few are willing to spend time with their parents. When we were young, home and family were our support; after we grow up, we fly off to a wider world, forgetting that a pair of eyes is following us from behind...

Not long ago, April's colleague Xiaochengjun wrote an article telling a few stories about companionship. April was so moved she nearly cried, and today I'm sharing it with you all. You too must remember to send greetings to your family~

Papa Was a Rodeo

 I Already Love You

Sara Lov 

00:00/05:00

{Peony Girl Vol.898 }

x

The Best Companionship

One day, everyone who loves us will leave us.

If we never spent time with them, if we can't even recall taking a single photo of them, when the day of parting truly arrives, will we regret it?

Like most people, YASUTO had never thought about this question, until he peeled open the first bitter candy of his life.

A cool breeze blew past, lifting Grandma's gray-white hair into the air.His heart ached, and he said, "Grandma, when I'm back from this business trip, I'll definitely take a photo of you under a tree full of cherry blossoms."

Grandma's face, dim for so long, suddenly bloomed into a smile, and her reply was full of anticipation. And so came the first cherry blossom photo of Grandma in YASUTO's camera.

"Grandma, just sit under the tree and pet Ah Fu like that."

Grandma was a bit hard of hearing and didn't seem to catch it, so YASUTO dashed over and softly repeated it in her ear. When he came back and picked up the camera again, Grandma was gently smiling and petting Ah Fu.

With a click, YASUTO's camera finally held the first photo of Grandma.

Ah Fu is the Shiba Inu beside Grandma

One photo certainly wasn't enough.

In spring, poppies bloomed all across the hills,

YASUTO raised his lens and shouted at Grandma among the flowers:

"Grandma, look back!"

Click,

and his favorite photo of Grandma glancing back was born.

In May, hydrangeas bloomed,

tempting young girls everywhere to go take portraits,

YASUTO figured the hydrangeas in Okayama Prefecture were the prettiest,

so he and his brother put their heads together,

and took Grandma out the door.

While Grandma rested, tired from walking,

click, another one.

By the time summer came,

the sunflowers in Hiroshima were at their best,

and he couldn't wait to drag Grandma along.

Through YASUTO's lens,

the field of sunflowers all became a backdrop,

and Grandma and Ah Fu's smiling faces became the most beautiful picture.

From last year to this year,

YASUTO took nearly a hundred such lovely photos of Grandma.

He uploaded these photos to Instagram,

and unexpectedly they drew10W+likes from strangers.

Many people praised Grandma in the comments, saying she was beautiful, and that together with the Shiba Inu Ah Fu she looked so warm and happy.

Some also thought of their own family: "I want to cry. My grandma passed away, and I never took a single photo of her. I even rarely spent time with her."

YASUTO stared at that comment on the screen for a long time. In the darkness, tears rolled down without him realizing.

That feeling of regret, he understood.

As a photographer, a portrait photographer who had been shooting for 15 years, he had never taken a single photo of his grandfather.Even Grandpa's memorial portrait was taken by Grandpa himself, setting up a tripod on his own.

Only in that moment did he know what regret tasted like.

Three years ago, YASUTO's grandfather passed away. When he, away on a business trip, heard the news, he was stunned.

The grandfather in his memory who always smiled while watching him play soccer with Grandma, the grandfather who made him a rocking horse, the grandfather who held his hand to go buy snacks at the corner store...

The grandfather who always put him at ease and reminded him to take care of his health had left him, and yet because he was busy he had not kept him company properly, and hadn't even been able to see him one last time.

We always say we're busy, so busy that we neglect the joys and sorrows of the most important people around us, so busy that white hair and wrinkles steal into the few remaining years they have.

So busy that their once-straight backs have been bent by the years, and we never even noticed.

Remember the CCTV A4 paper that went viral a while back?

If we take 75 years as the average lifespan, life is only a short 900 months. Draw a 30X30 grid, and one sheet of A4 paper is enough.

If you cross off one square for every month that passes, your whole life fits on that sheet of paper.

If you're 20 this year, your paper looks like this

What struck me most is the time spent with parents,

which, once quantified, seems so little,

pitifully little, even.

If you can only see your parents once a year,

the time left is just one tiny square!

That's just for parents. For grandparents and great-grandparents, who are older still, the time they have left for us is even less. We always think there's plenty of time ahead, but the truth of life is cruelly harsh.

Some things, if you don't do them now, it really will be too late.

By the time YASUTO realized this, Grandpa had already passed, and all his regret could only turn into a lifetime of missing him.

And what worried YASUTO most was still Grandma.

After Grandpa passed away, YASUTO's grandma was once lost in grief, often sitting alone in a daze in the chair Grandpa used to love sitting in, not even feeling hungry when mealtime came.

This went on for a long time,

until he picked up his camera and started taking photos of Grandma.

The photo under the cherry blossom tree was the first one he took of her.

When the shutter pressed and YASUTO saw in the camera

his 85-year-old grandma's gentle smiling face,

he quietly made up his mind

that he must stay by Grandma's side,

take lots and lots of beautiful photos of her,

and never leave behind the kind of regret he had with Grandpa.

He knew the time left to him was limited,

so whenever he saw beautiful scenery,

he would bring Grandma along.

Cherry blossom trees, poppies, sunflowers,

and oh yes, Grandma's favorite wisteria.

When autumn came, in the season when maple leaves turn red,

there were photos of Grandma with the maple leaves.

Grandma smiled more and more,

and before every photo outing,

she would carefully coordinate what she wore.

Though the old lady's clothes were all simple and plain,

Grandma could always pair the colors beautifully,

in no way outdone by the young girls.

Sometimes she'd even come up with her own poses,

like amid a blooming cluster of hydrangeas,

gently sniffing the fragrance of the flowers.

At home,

YASUTO would also sneak shots of Grandma's daily life.

Like when Grandma, unable to sit still again,

was using the sewing machine to make things for the family.

This sewing machine was Grandma's dowry when she married Grandpa,

when Grandma was only 22,

and it had been in use for over 60 years.

YASUTO remembers that many of his clothes as a child

were sewn for him by Grandma on this sewing machine.

Not just Grandma,

YASUTO began turning his lens on every member of the family,

and he found that they smiled more and more.

Look,

Grandma and Mom together,

smiling so hard their eyes squeezed into slits.

It had been so long since they took a photo with Grandma,

so quick, one shot,

though what's with this blazing sun!

And the family's general store,

Dad, Mom, and big brother too.

Before, he had never thought of taking photos of his family.

Everyone in the family became happier and happier,

and it wasn't just because YASUTO took photos of them,

but because he spent more of his time on the act of companionship.

Letting family feel that they are cared for, loved,

or needed.

The elderly really don't have much time,

Some things, if you don't do them now, it will be too late.

Fu Xuewei, a 25-year-old girl from Chengdu,

when she was little, because her parents divorced,

she grew up with her grandfather,

and was a treasure held in the palm of his hand.

Daily cute photos of Fu Xuewei and her grandfather

Grandfather braided her little pigtails,

bought her tasty treats,

in the dead of winter when the girl had a fever,

Grandfather rode a broken bicycle through the snow to take her to the doctor,

later the girl's fever went down,

but Grandfather fell ill instead.

These warm moments of love are Xuewei's memories of her grandfather.

Two years ago, Grandfather was diagnosed with cerebral infarction,

looking at Grandfather's graying hair,

and his trembling hands as he picked up water,

Xuewei realized for the first time:

my grandfather has grown old.

Yet busy as she was, she spent very little time with him.

Suddenly time became a luxury,

and every moment spent with Grandfather

felt extraordinarily precious to Xuewei.

She started avoiding overtime as much as possible, rushing home the moment work ended, just to have a meal with her grandparents and tell them what had happened during the day;

whenever she had a day off, she took the elderly out to explore, Hong Kong, China, Macao, China, Beijing... Grandfather had trouble walking, so Xuewei pushed his wheelchair and accompanied him through the entire Forbidden City.

Xuewei thought that this way, she could make Grandfather age a little slower, a little slower still, and their time together a little longer, a little longer still.

But in September last year, she received another notice from the hospital, Grandfather was confirmed to be ill again, and the doctor began to gently remind her: after all, the elderly man is getting on in years.

Grandfather's greatest wish was to see Xuewei in a wedding dress, but Xuewei had no plans to marry yet.

Watching time slip away drop by drop, and Grandfather growing older by the day, Xuewei dared not gamble on tomorrow:“"If I don't let Grandfather see my wedding photos, I will regret it for the rest of my life."

She contacted a bridal studio as quickly as possible, picked out the most beautiful wedding dress, and using a hospital checkup as an excuse, Xuewei hid it from relatives and friends and brought Grandfather to the photo shoot location.

In the church,

Grandfather, wearing a plaid suit and a bow tie,

gently took the hand of his granddaughter in her white wedding dress,

and tremblingly stepped onto the red carpet.

Aged Grandfather had long had trouble with his legs,

a red carpet that was just a few meters for others,

seemed to take the grandfather and granddaughter centuries to walk.

The moment the cameraman raised his camera,

Grandfather couldn't help but say:

"My granddaughter looks so beautiful in a wedding dress."

At first,

the cameraman was worried that the wedding photos of the grandfather and granddaughter would be hard to shoot,

but the moment Xuewei and Grandfather were in the same frame,

the affection that belongs to family flowed naturally around the two of them,

Xuewei, just like when she was little,

gently leaned against Grandfather,

as if she had an endless supply of coquettishness to shower on him.

She couldn't resist picking up the camera too,

saying she wanted to capture every moment of Grandfather,

and she teased her usually stern grandfather until he couldn't help but laugh.

When Xuewei posted her and her grandfather's wedding photos online, many likes poured in, many people were moved by the bond between this grandfather and granddaughter, and even more people began to miss the elders in their own families.

Because it was too late, many people were left with regrets toward their elders.

Xuewei was lucky, and brave, it was her love for her grandfather that led her to take this set of wedding photos, preserving a moment of happiness that belonged to the two of them.

Others only thought about it, but she truly went and did it.

Xuewei often thinks back to one moment,

when the "Wedding March" began to play,

Grandfather standing on the red carpet

seemed to feel as if he really were

accompanying his beloved granddaughter across the red carpet of marriage.

The hand holding his granddaughter's actually trembled slightly.

She gently hugged her grandfather,

and the camera captured this moment of deep affection between the grandfather and granddaughter.

"In the future perhaps I will have love,

marriage, even a grand wedding,

but I will always remember the moment Grandfather held my hand

and walked me across the red carpet."

Also to preserve the precious time spent with her grandfather,

a granddaughter named Shi Mengyao,

who had never learned photography,

used 7 years to take 200 photos with her grandfather.

Shi Mengyao and her grandfather

What she captured were all ordinary moments,

the first shot she took

was of the two of them going out together.

Only this time, it was her holding his hand.

Occasionally Grandfather felt playful,

and picked a pretty wildflower for his granddaughter,

she leaned on Grandfather's shoulder,

that familiar sense of safety, just like when she was little.

When people grow old, their hands tremble badly,

so the granddaughter regularly helped Grandfather clean his ears,

he lay in her arms, so like the baby girl in swaddling clothes back then,

except now she had grown into an adult,

and he had grown too old to carry her.

In these photos, I saw Shi Mengyao and her grandfather, yet it was as if I also saw the time I spent with my own grandfather.

It's just that many people overlook the time that should have been spent together.

After YASUTO's grandmother series of photos was shared by some media outlets, they were selected for the Tokyo Photographic Club exhibition, something he had never imagined.

As a seasoned photographer, he always thought that pretty girls and gorgeous scenery were what attracted people, and gave a chance to compete, but looking back now, what truly touches the heart is instead the seemingly ordinary yet most moving family affection.

But these things didn't matter much to him either,being able to spend the little time remaining well accompanying the most important people in his life, and doing things that make them happy, was enough for him.

Finally, I also hope that this National Day,

everyone can be by their family's side,

and if possible,

take more photos of your own family,

these will surely be the most precious memories in days to come.

Because companionship is the best love of all.

Too little time spent with family?

Let's go see the vast autumn colors of the desert together!

Follow the Peony Girl Dunhuang Study Tour station,

"Dunhuang · Wild Growth" is now recruiting,

click the blue link to sign up!

END

The images in this article come from YASUTO's ins account