I turned twenty not too long ago, just before the New Year. Now with me not being a teen anymore and 2017 creeping up, I was in the midst of doing some serious life evaluation. While I was busy thinking of my future, my resolutions and scrolling through my twitter timeline, I saw a tweet that really inspired me to write this article. It was a poll that simply said "Who is the strongest person you know?" with the voting options being three WWE stars. While I really didn't have a clue who any of them were except for John Cena (because of the hundreds of memes that come with his name), the two people I immediately thought of were my grandmother and my mom. These two women have impacted my life in ways I can't even describe so for now, I’ll just stick to talking about my grandmother.

Growing up with two working parents, I spent most of my weekdays at my grandmother's house after school. In the midst of homework (that I never did), playtime, naptime, and TV time, I spent all my time by her side. She told me her experiences growing up, all the opportunity she missed, and every other event that led to the life she was living now. All my life, I've heard my grandmother tell her life story over and over again simply because back in the day, she couldn't. No one really understands why she won't let it go and why she keeps rehashing the past. But over the years as I've grown, I think it's because she has never had her voice heard. No one really understands the ordeal she went through which is why it’s so easy for them to disregard her now. So since I have an outlet and the power to voice out my opinions and thoughts, I really can't think of a better way to use it.

My grandmother really is an amazing woman. She grew up in Malaysia, with two parents and 12 siblings. Sources back then were scarce and everyone looked out for themselves. My grandma wasn’t the oldest in her family, but she was given all the household responsibilities at the young age of 8. She managed the household chores, she cooked and made sure there was food on the table for every one of her family members, took care of her younger siblings all while going to school and maintaining her straight A’s. Although she broke a sweat and her back to keep everything in order at home, no one really appreciated her. Her mom always made her feel like she wasn’t good enough and no one really looked out for her, but she still stuck to the responsibilities she was given all the way till she was an adult.

Being a girl in the early 1900’s was definitely not easy. My grandma grew up in an orthodox household, with strict rules. She wasn’t allowed to raise her voice, laugh out loud, sleep in, etc. and because she never stood up for herself, over time, she was the backbone of her household and her family saw it as that too. She couldn’t spend time with extra curricular activities after school nor do anything fun a girl her age should've been doing, because all the work she had at home drained her in every way possible. She was more of an adult at the age of 8 than I am now at the age of 20.

I could never understand how anyone could be so mean to my grandma. She was kind and thoughtful, and always put everyone before herself. She takes care of people even when she shouldn’t and has no reason to. She is probably one of the most selfless people I know, and she didn’t deserve being treated so poorly almost all her life.

Looking at everything she’s accomplished, I often like to think I’m a professional at everything I do. I bake a cake and put icing on it, and then I feel like I’m ready to start a business baking cakes from home. While I am the jack-of-all-trades, my grandmother on the other hand, is the master of all. She is a talented singer with an angelic voice and she was a track star before she had to put all her energy into house chores. She took a teaching course and then taught herself English. She is a great seamstress using her knowledge from home economy classes to sew anything she puts her mind to and she taught me and my siblings how to read, write and speak an entire language. I honestly can’t think of anyone who makes better-tasting food than she does (but my mom is a very close second). She’s smart and has an impeccable memory, and I can go on and on talking about all her talents and capabilities.

My grandmother woke up everyday before dawn to do what she needed to do. I find myself drowning in school work almost all the time I feel like I can't even breathe and it's the only responsibility I have, meanwhile my grandmother woke up early every morning, studied using light from a woodfire, then washed the entire family's laundry, put them up to dry, did the dishes from the day before, prepared breakfast for her family and still made it to school on time at 7:30 a.m. before her school gate closed. Not to mention, she still got straight A's in all her classes.

So back to the irrelevant tweet that took up 5 minutes of your time because you’re now sat here reading my article; why is my grandmother the strongest person I know? She was put down her entire life. She was constantly told she was never good enough, always reminded that she would never go anywhere in life and all her life she was never appreciated enough for everything she does. She always felt all alone because no one looked out for her, even when she was hurt or sick, she had only herself to depend on. But, she never gave up and never backed down. While everyone and the universe were against her, she stayed strong and never gave up. To be really honest, I would’ve buckled a long time ago if I had been through everything she has.

I only touched the tip of the iceberg of everything she endured growing up, but now she is someone I look up to, my role model.

She has three wonderful children (one of them being my other role model, my mom) and an entire family tree that loves her unconditionally. I live 9000 miles away from her but not a day goes by where I don’t think of her and randomly calling her or buying her favorite desserts and spending a few hours at her place. I might not be able to call her any time I want to, but here is just a little something to let her know she’s always in my mind, my thoughts and my prayers. You might have been underappreciated all your life, but I appreciate you more than anything. Thank you for everything you do. This is an ode to my grandma, whom I adore and love with all my heart.