I love my Grandfather ♥

i love my grandfather to death. he had a very sad childhood. before the korean war, korea was one nation (not north and south korea). my grandfather's family lived in the north. at a young age, my grandfather was sent to live at his uncle's (father's brother) house for some reason in the south (my mom told me his story awhile back and i don't remember the reason). he was really young and he grew up missing his mother and his siblings as he was now living at his uncle's with his cousins. he was given away to be adopted by his uncle. i remember my mom telling me how he sat on the train and cried himself to sleep at night because he missed his mom.

when the war broke out, my grandfather joined the army and he fought for south korea. he eventually became a high ranking official and he fought in the vietnam war as well. (to this day he has nightmares where he'll start screaming in his sleep). after the war, he couldn't visit or see his family that remained in the north as the country had split up and become two separate nations. in time he got married to my grandmother and had two kids, my mom and my uncle. he worked hard all his life to support his family. (my mom only knows of his story because my grandma told her about it. my mom told me that my grandma said she cried a lot when she first heard his story because it was so heartbreaking. i cried the first time i heard the story.)

my grandpa is very quiet and doesn't say much, and he's not very good at expressing himself. the way he shows affection sometimes can be misconstrued as being rude or mean, when it's just his own way of showing that he cares about you. this being the case, people sometimes misunderstand him and his intentions. but i always know what he means because i know he cares for and loves me. when he says "i'm so sick of you getting into car accidents!" in an annoyed way, that's actually his way of displaying affection. (which is what he said to me when he saw my car after a recent fender bender.) he never knows what to say, so he starts nitpicking. and not everyone understands that.

i also have so much respect for him because he worked his back off all his life to support his family. i grew up without a dad because my father abandoned what he started and left the family when i was about eight years old; maybe that's why i can appreciate it more. and i realize now how hard it must be to support a family: i'm hardly able to support myself and my lavish spending habits, let alone another person. my grandpa supported his wife and two kids in addition to himself, and despite hard times never gave up and left. just imagining all the things he had to give up for himself in order to feed his family and keep food on the table makes me see what a great and honorable man he is. in my eyes, he's the greatest.

there are certain people who disrespect him and think of him as a nuisance and i cannot stand that. nothing in this world will ever piss me off more than that. yes he has his faults but who doesn't? there's nothing you could ever accomplish in this world that will ever measure up to him. and yet some people will sit there and make fun of him and act like he's a petulant child, roll their eyes, and continue to disrespect him. i have been holding my tongue only because i don't want to start drama, but if i ever see or hear anyone disrespect him in any way again, i will give them a verbal beat down (in lieu of a physical one which is what i really would like to do) and never speak to them ever again.

the end!