Uncle is very special, at least to me. There are many relatives in the countryside, but I am the only one he contacts and calls. If there is anything in the countryside, I am the first person to let him know; if he asks about someone, if there is a happy or sad event, he calls me first. Despite his old age, he listens to the radio and reads the newspaper very often. He is interested in any situation in his hometown Quang Tri, listens to it on the radio and newspapers, then calls home to ask and share. Because of my busy work, I do not call him regularly, but mostly he calls me. There are days when I call during work hours, I am not convenient to answer the phone, and when I get home I forget to call back, but he still takes the initiative to call me without blaming me.
Quang Tri spring newspapers are always treasured and cherished by my uncle like a special gift from the countryside - Photo: TU LINH
At the age of 15, he left home to join the revolution. Then in 1954, he and the army marched to take over the capital. His workplace before retiring was the Capital Military Region (now the Capital Command). His house was in Hanoi's Old Quarter, in a 1/2 apartment of about 16 square meters on the 3rd floor of an old apartment building from 1954 to the present. The apartment only had room for a double bed and a multi-purpose chair, which could be pulled out into a bed when needed, a tiny refrigerator and an expanded loft to store other items. The house was cramped but the people were always generous. No one from the countryside could leave without stopping by his house for a meal and bringing back some Hanoi delicacies.
Last week, my uncle called me to remind me to send him the Quang Tri Spring Newspaper this Tet; to ask about the health of my family, relatives, hometown and some important events of the province. He also asked me: Did you go to visit the heroic Vietnamese mother Phan Thi Cat in our hometown who just passed away? She is a distant relative of mine, I went to visit her last year when I went back to my hometown, she is still healthy...”. At the age of 96, my uncle still remembers clearly and lucidly every event and every person in surprising detail.
For over 20 years, every Tet I have sent my uncle a copy of the Quang Tri spring newspaper, along with some of his hometown's Tet dishes such as banh chung, ginger jam and pickled vegetables. Hanoi does not lack these dishes, they are even more delicious, but my uncle still treasures the hometown's Tet gift of a spring newspaper placed next to it, making the spring in the city warmer. As for the Tet newspaper, every year after reading it, he calls me, happy that his hometown is growing and becoming more prosperous. Anyone who comes to visit my uncle's house brags: "I live in Hanoi but I always get to read the paper newspaper sent from Quang Tri!"
On a cold winter weekend morning, I couldn't get out of my warm blanket, but the text message from my uncle's son made me wake up, shocked. My uncle has been sick for 2 days now and is in a deep coma. Perhaps this year, the spring newspaper with the flavor of my hometown that I sent him will no longer be able to read. The familiar image of the old soldier attentively reading each line, then happily calling his relatives to show off his increasingly renewed homeland will no longer appear before his children and grandchildren. The phone calls carrying the nostalgia and deep love for his hometown of Quang Tri are also gradually becoming less frequent... Hanoi is freezing cold. My heart is aching...
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