Memories With My Grandfather
Translated from Korean
- I remember holding Dad's hand as we stepped over the bathroom threshold at the Seocheon house, which was still under construction. "Is this Grandpa's house now?" Dad said yes.
- During Chuseok and Seollal holidays, we'd drive to Seocheon in Dad's car. There was a pine forest in front of the Seocheon house. I'd sit on the rocks in that forest, soaking up the sunlight, or play on the swing Dad hung between the trees. My sister, my cousins, and I would catch bean beetles, make a race track on Grandpa's Go board, and race the beetles.
- Ten years ago, after Grandma passed away, instead of going down to Seocheon, we held the ancestral rites at my great-uncle's house in Uiwang. Grandpa would take the train up to Gyeonggi Province. Grandfather didn't seem to like staying at the big house much; he always said he wanted to go home quickly. Before his eyesight and hearing faded, he would take walks in front of the house, but after they did, he just lay in his room during the few days he was at the big house. Lying beside him then, I heard the story of how he was taken away during the Korean War but managed to return home. "Back then, my friend and I were sitting there, not even knowing we were being taken to the battlefield. Then my father came and took only me. The friend who was with me never came back." Even though he was recounting a story from over 80 years ago, it seemed vividly real. That day was the first time I ever thought Grandfather's eyes looked sad.
- My grandfather's father, my great-grandfather, was apparently quite wealthy and a respected local figure. Somehow, I imagine he resembled my dad in bearing, gait, and that hearty, open-hearted manner. After my great-grandfather brought my grandfather home to prevent him from being taken to the battlefield, he educated him and sent him to university. Given the wealth and knowledge required to send someone to a Seoul university back then, I can roughly imagine what it was like. Grandfather was a science teacher. During holidays when I was young, he would gather his grandchildren and host a Golden Bell quiz. I don't remember the questions well, but I do recall doing quite well as the youngest. I also remember asking Grandfather to carry me on his back as my Golden Bell prize wish.
- On the day I inherited Grandfather's Seocheon house—the house Dad built, the house filled with so many childhood memories—Grandfather told me about his days at the old real estate office. He sat at the neighborhood real estate brokerage, smoking a cigarette, and said he was the only one who could write back then. He just wrote a few words on real estate documents as people requested, and they were grateful. As he told this story, smoking his cigarette, my 92-year-old grandfather looked happy. And after that day, he gradually approached the end of his life.
- The last time I saw him alive was in August. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he slept most of the day. He became less mobile, struggling even to go to the bathroom alone. He didn't eat much, but Mom made soup with meat and soup with octopus. She chopped the meat and octopus finely, mixed the soup with rice, and fed it to him. He didn't eat much, but he could still eat. That evening, I asked him, "Which do you like better, the meat soup or the octopus soup?" He said the meat soup. The beef radish soup at Seocheon Funeral Home, where Grandfather's funeral was held, was delicious. Even I, who usually don't care much for this kind of soup, ate it happily for several days. I ate the meat soup to my heart's content, in Grandfather's place.
- Grandma passed away in March of my senior year of high school. After turning twenty, I often visited Seocheon alone. Grandpa was living by himself, and I just liked going to Seocheon by myself for some reason. Grandpa wasn't much of a talker; just being by his side was enough. Back then, Grandfather was in his early eighties, yet he went out several times a week to guard the tidal flats. He said the villagers had stopped fishing to restore the damaged flats and were monitoring outsiders' fishing activities. I can still vividly picture his back as he walked down the hill toward the flats, hands behind his back.
- One winter day after a huge fight with Dad (actually, I just got yelled at one-sidedly), I went straight to Seocheon on the bus after work from the company where I was interning. Grandpa didn't ask what happened; he just happily ate the stir-fried pork I made.
- The first IT product I ever made was the reservation site for the guesthouse Grandpa built on the second floor of the Seocheon house. As an elementary school student, I used Namo Web Editor and AL FTP to build the site. I remember it even generated a few bookings. I even got an award for it.
- Before the guesthouse was built on the second floor of the Seocheon house, it was a large rooftop. I often played various games on that rooftop, but my favorite was playing house. I stacked leftover bricks from construction like an igloo, laid down a mat, and made a house. I told my family to come play since I'd built a house on the second floor, but no one came up. I sat alone on the mat playing for a long time when Mom came up the stairs carrying orange juice in a big bottle. Mom and I drank orange juice together and had our housewarming party.
- During the ten years Grandpa lived alone in the Seocheon house, he got up to all sorts of things. He built a plastic greenhouse in the small backyard and started a green onion business for Heurisan, raised a few goats, and kept chickens. He sold the goats, and sometimes gave them to my aunts or great-aunts for their health. He offered some to my mom several times, but she refused them all.
- Grandfather's house was always bustling with life. From the neighborhood grandpas who came over to play Go, to the local men who called him "Doctor," not to mention the stray cats and dogs. Grandfather called every cat "Butterfly" and every dog "Grape." I have so many memories about Butterfly and Grape, but where to begin and where to end? I'll have to dig deeper into those memories later.
