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Just Bad News This Time
Tuesday, 2006 June 6 - 9:12 am
My grandpa died last week.

It's kind of a sad time for our family. My grandpa, the patriarch of the family, died in his sleep at the age of 97 last week. His mind was as sharp as a tack to the very end, but his body finally just wore out.

Now, it's not that he and I were very close. I mean, ten thousand miles and a language barrier doesn't exactly make for a tight relationship. But I have fond memories of him. He always gave me and my sister money, even when we got to be old enough not to need it from him. He let me rap him on his bald head because I thought it was funny. And he made a concerted effort to speak English to us, even though he only knew a few words.

I really only knew him as "ojii-chan" (which means "grandpa" in Japanese). No one ever called him by his name. I only remember him as being old; in fact, that's my recollection of all my grandparents. I wish I could picture him in his youth, gallivanting around in pre-industrial Japan. I'll bet he had interesting stories about the war. But I never spoke enough Japanese to be able to ask him about it.

Last time I saw him, I gave him a North Carolina State t-shirt to wear. He liked stuff like that.



Goodbye, ojii-chan. We'll all miss you.
Permalink  7 Comment   Bookmark and Share
Posted by Ken in: life

Comments

Comment #1 from olafandy (Guest)
2006 Jun 6 - 4:35 pm : #
I'm very sorry to hear that. But certainly, he will live on in your memories.
Comment #2 from John C (Guest)
2006 Jun 6 - 10:32 pm : #
I am sorry Ken. I did not know anyone our age still had grandparents. and it has been ages since I saw your parents. Hang in there.
Comment #3 from Crouching Hamster (Guest)
2006 Jun 6 - 11:52 pm : #
Touching memories, Ken.
Comment #4 from Sabrina (Guest)
2006 Jun 7 - 5:40 pm : #
I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather Ken. I'm glad that you have good memories of him.
Comment #5 from MonoCerdo (Guest)
2006 Jun 7 - 7:08 pm : #
That was a great tribute. I'm sorry to hear of his passing, Ken.
Comment #6 from Jenn (Guest)
2006 Jun 7 - 10:04 pm : #
The only thing that I can come up with to say is that I'm sorry.
Comment #7 from sweatpantsmom (Guest)
2006 Jun 9 - 11:08 pm : #
Hi Ken,

I'm so sorry for your loss. This was a wonderful tribute to him. I never knew my grandfathers - they both died before I was born, but have warm memories of my grandmothers. I had the same language barrier you talk about here - what is it with our generation and not knowing our native language? We're going to Japan in August, and I'm frantically trying to enroll myself and my daughters up for a crash course in Japanese, just so I don't 'bring dishonor' on the entire American contingent of my family.
(Sorry this is so late - I've been away and am just catching up on my blog reading.)

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