(Written by Hu Ao in Beijing)

          Yesterday I read a true story about a family that had just returned from a vacation when the father was diagnosed with cancer.  As the mother had to spend all of her time with her husband, the daughter went to live in her friend's home.  After a few months, the father died.  The daughter deeply regretted that she hadn't told her father that she love him and wrote an article entitled, "Don't Forget to Say 'I love you'".

          When I finished reading her story, I wrote some notes about my own experiences on that same theme and put them together like this:

         I've always been proud of the fact that I'm not a moneygrubber.  In my childhood, I lived with the grandma on my mother's side of the family, and from time to time she gave me a few coins and said I could use them to buy snacks if I wanted to.  Instead of spending them, however, I saved them, as I thought they might become important later on.

         When I was 10 years old, my grandmother was also diagnosed with cancer - just like the father in the story I'd read.  I didn't understand the disease, but knew that my grandma was not going to get well.

          Soon afterwards, she was taken to the hospital and had surgery.  During the weeks she was there, I spent almost every night at my grandfather's house (on my father's side of the family) because my parents were busy looking after my grandma.

          When I finally went to the hospital to see her, the room was silent most of the time.  Only a few words were exchanged.  I knew that she probably had a lot that she wanted to say, but she couldn't because she was just too weak.  Almost all the time I was there, she stared at me - knowing that she would die very soon.  I was my grandma's prince, and she had always told that she would be there for me forever.  At the end of that day, I had to leave because grandmother was feeling so bad, and I forgot to tell her I loved her when I left.

          A few weeks later, when I got home from school, the phone was ringing, and it was my father who began the conversation by asking if I'd had dinner, and then he told me the real reason for the call - my grandma had left us.

          At that moment, I felt overtaken by a giant sea wave.  My mind went blank.  I wanted to cry but I found that I didn't have any tears.  I was struck dumb.

          I don't know how I endured that night, as I felt the loss so deeply.  I remembered that grandmother had said she would always be there for me, and I finally figured out that it meant that even though she wouldn't be there in person, she would always be watching over me from heaven.

          I wish I could see my father more often, but when I miss him now, all I have to do is take out the coins grandma gave me - and the old photos - and in that way I feel much better.  People always say "I love you" to their lovers, but they tend to forget other important people in their lives - their parents, their grandparents.

          We should let them know we love them while there's still a chance.