Things have been troubling the past few weeks. My grandfather has a serious case of Alzheimer’s disease and from what I have seen, he is a blank slate. When I went to visit him the one weekend during new years (happy new years by the way), he wasn’t there at all mentally. He didn’t do anything but sit down, stand up, and shuffle around.
I don’t know too much about my grandparents or the history of my family. The main reason why I took a Korean class at University was for one simple fact. I wanted to ask my grandfather about his life, and give him a few questions he could answer in Korean. I wanted to know where he came from and what life was like. From what I’ve heard, he was an important man. I believe somewhere in the backlog of posts, there’s a mention of me taking Korean class for just this reason. It pains me to say that I am all but too late. There is nothing more for him to do. He now lives alone in a small apartment with his wife, who takes care of him alone. And they live far away from all other relatives, including us.
It is really sad. So this is my tribute to my father’s dad. I am going to write about what I know and fill in the blanks so that at least I’ll look back one day and remember my grandfather. But alas, University starts tomorrow and I am too tired to start it. I have a basic idea of what I want to write and I’ll be churning it out any time I have free time. That might not be too likely this month since I have a lot of work to do.
To me, my grandfather is already gone. So I say, farewell. I am proud to carry on the Yoo name.