Hello Dear Friends!
How was your Easter weekend? Celebrated with many heretical egg-laying rabbits? Or making trips to wal-mart the day after for 50% marked off candy? The joys of living in a first-world country :)
Easter for me this year has been quite memorable. I spent the day with extended family. Not many of you know that my grandma is suffering from advanced Alzheimer's disease, and has difficulty recognizing even her own children's faces. Names are unimportant and non-existent to her, as she can't even remember how many children she has. However this Sunday, she got to see her only son, out of a family of 9 kids, who came all the way from Brazil to see her. Now her son, my uncle, has suffered from a stroke several years ago that paralyzed half his body and left him unable to talk. Since then, he has made great improvements for a man his age (65) and is able to slowly walk with the aid of a cane, and he can say simple things such as obrigado (thank you) and aigoo (oh my) with much effort.
This Sunday, I got to see one of the most heartwarming pictures I have witnessed: my grandma, who can't remember to turn the light off before going to bed, saw her son, whom she has not seen for almost 20 years, and she recognized him. Her son has no problem recognizing her as his mental capacities are quite lucid; he just can't express his happiness to see her. They begin this long hobble down the hallway to finally be able to grasp the other's hand, only to have the surprise on my grandma's face turn to joy, then turn to anger as she sees how crippled her son is. She starts hitting his arm with tears in her eyes, saying "I gave birth to a healthy boy, what happened to you? Are you really my son?" my uncle has tears in his eyes as he cannot bring himself to say anything but 'oh my', and he can see how grandma is questioning his identity. Grandma gives him an ultimatum: "if you truly are my son, say your name. Say Kim Yung Myung." Now this is a hard name to pronounce even for me in Korean, but for a stroke victim to say, is neigh impossible. The effort that my uncle put into forming the words was painstaking, the emotion that he had was almost tangible, even as his voice has no tone. His face was twisted with the pain that he knew he was causing his mother, and with a super human effort, he finally muscled out: "Kim. Yung. . . Myung!" Grandma demanded that he say it over and over again, until she was satisfied that he was finally her son. At last, recognition set in, and he was accepted by her.
It was both the most heart-wrenching and heartwarming moment-The mother cannot remember her son, and the son cannot say his name or call her 'mother'. yet, by the grace of God, they both were able to overcome their disabilities, and the son says his name, and finally says 'mother', to which the mother replies '..my son.'
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
My Eventfull/Uneventfull Summer
Summer and I have a love/hate relationship. There are times when I am having a ton of fun and I am loving summer, and then there is other times that I am bored out of my mind. So in-between all the evens that has happened and will happen, I have been doing (seemingly) nothing. Well, ok, not nothing, what I have been doing during boring, uneventful, nothing times is searching for a job and applying for scholarships, so I haven't been doing nothing, but it seems like it because nothing seems to be happening on those fronts.
Well the first thing that happened this summer was birthday season. I survived it! My three sisters had there birthdays and two of them graduated (Jessicah from high school and Maribeth from jr. high). It looks like Jessicah will be going to Masters in the fall, but don't expect to get to know her. She likes to be in different crowds from me, I don't know what she has against you. Just kidding it is probably because she doesn't want to have the same friends as ME. So it is me not you guys. She once had a dream that I ruined her reputation at Masters.
Which brings me to my next point, which is Masters. This is what it looks like I am going to do school wise this next school year, I am going to go to College of Canyons in the fall and Masters in the spring. I am going to do this because I can't afford to go to Masters for both semesters but I will still visit often, if I get my drivers licenses, but the last time I tried to get it I was so nervous that I almost killed someone (sadly not a joke).
Well after me sisters' birthdays, my computer got a virus, and a bad one at that. NEVER FEAR WESTON IS HERE! He saved my computer. :) Then it was my birthday. I am now an old man, 20. So Weston and Rhi threw me a birthday party and during the party Landrew came and visited Weston. After that the three of us watched a movie called "No Greater Love." It was a great party.
Then on the 17th Weston, Harrison, Rhi, two other girls, and myself saw "Green Lantern." It was a fairly good movie.
In between those two events, I had to help a friend and his mom move. His parents just divorced and he is taking it really hard, which is to-be expected. Pray for him, sadly I have been through this before (one of my other friend's parents got divorced). Pray that I know how to handle this situation well.
I have been doing Kids Fest at PBC this year, for those of you who do not know what that is, it is like a VBC every Sunday night during the summer for ten weeks. I came to the realization that I have been a guild for Kids Fest for 8 years and before that I was one of the little kids in the program. This year, Kids Fest is doing better then ever. :)
That is what happened, except I also bought a really cool book (The Complete Sherlock Holmes, it is the nicest book in my personal library) and went to Chick-Fil-A. I had not been to that place since Spring Party. My church did a fundraiser there and it was a success.
This is what is going to happen in the future... I am going to Yucca Valley and New Port Beach. This Saturday I am going to Yucca Valley (Where Anne is) to help Pastor Stephen Jones and Anne with their VBS. I did this last year, before I knew Anne, actually before Anne went to that church. And they wanted me to come back. I can tell you from experience that Anne is one of the normal people from Yucca Valley.
Then two weeks later, I will be in New Port Beach for a week in a beach house with my family. By my family I mean my immediate and extended family. My family is interesting but comparatively normal, especially when you compare it to a family like Weston's.
Well that is what my summer is going to look like. I guess it will not be as boring as I think it will be, but I guess that is what happens when you forget to look at the big picture. I think that will still keep you guys updated. You may even get an update from Anne and I next week.
In the Lord,
Caleb
Well the first thing that happened this summer was birthday season. I survived it! My three sisters had there birthdays and two of them graduated (Jessicah from high school and Maribeth from jr. high). It looks like Jessicah will be going to Masters in the fall, but don't expect to get to know her. She likes to be in different crowds from me, I don't know what she has against you. Just kidding it is probably because she doesn't want to have the same friends as ME. So it is me not you guys. She once had a dream that I ruined her reputation at Masters.
Which brings me to my next point, which is Masters. This is what it looks like I am going to do school wise this next school year, I am going to go to College of Canyons in the fall and Masters in the spring. I am going to do this because I can't afford to go to Masters for both semesters but I will still visit often, if I get my drivers licenses, but the last time I tried to get it I was so nervous that I almost killed someone (sadly not a joke).
Well after me sisters' birthdays, my computer got a virus, and a bad one at that. NEVER FEAR WESTON IS HERE! He saved my computer. :) Then it was my birthday. I am now an old man, 20. So Weston and Rhi threw me a birthday party and during the party Landrew came and visited Weston. After that the three of us watched a movie called "No Greater Love." It was a great party.
Then on the 17th Weston, Harrison, Rhi, two other girls, and myself saw "Green Lantern." It was a fairly good movie.
In between those two events, I had to help a friend and his mom move. His parents just divorced and he is taking it really hard, which is to-be expected. Pray for him, sadly I have been through this before (one of my other friend's parents got divorced). Pray that I know how to handle this situation well.
I have been doing Kids Fest at PBC this year, for those of you who do not know what that is, it is like a VBC every Sunday night during the summer for ten weeks. I came to the realization that I have been a guild for Kids Fest for 8 years and before that I was one of the little kids in the program. This year, Kids Fest is doing better then ever. :)
That is what happened, except I also bought a really cool book (The Complete Sherlock Holmes, it is the nicest book in my personal library) and went to Chick-Fil-A. I had not been to that place since Spring Party. My church did a fundraiser there and it was a success.
This is what is going to happen in the future... I am going to Yucca Valley and New Port Beach. This Saturday I am going to Yucca Valley (Where Anne is) to help Pastor Stephen Jones and Anne with their VBS. I did this last year, before I knew Anne, actually before Anne went to that church. And they wanted me to come back. I can tell you from experience that Anne is one of the normal people from Yucca Valley.
Then two weeks later, I will be in New Port Beach for a week in a beach house with my family. By my family I mean my immediate and extended family. My family is interesting but comparatively normal, especially when you compare it to a family like Weston's.
Well that is what my summer is going to look like. I guess it will not be as boring as I think it will be, but I guess that is what happens when you forget to look at the big picture. I think that will still keep you guys updated. You may even get an update from Anne and I next week.
In the Lord,
Caleb
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