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This weekend I was supposed to be on a road trip in England with close friends. But my parents decided at the last minute they wanted to come visit me in California. Living apart, any time I can get with my aging family is the top priority to me.
My friend sent me photos of him with the memorial stone of his great uncle in the Cambridge garden. His relative was a modern Chinese poet, who brought Western influences to the traditional forms. I’ve shared a different image of the stone below, inscribed with verses from the poem.
Over the years, through studies and work, I’ve been surprised by how many friends have famous relatives. Descendants of royalty, prime ministers, economists, writers - people who made dents in the world.
There is no one notable in my family in the Wikipedia sense. I know little about my father’s family. My maternal grandfather had a farm and orchard along a creek where I spent all my childhood summers.
I used to dread the outhouse, the rice paper doors, and chores at my grandfather’s place. Now, with so much modernization in South Korea, I look back at his way of life and see so much beauty in its rareness.
After he passed, his farm was sold and I felt my memories of it slipping away. I wrote a few poems to try to capture scenes I knew I might forget someday. I’m wondering today if they should have a little more oxygen than just being in my desk drawer.
My parents yesterday were telling me their observations of aging. They’re starting to forget things. They walk into a room and can’t remember why. Names of people and things no longer come easily.
All writing and publishing, including these little casts we share here, is a defiance against forgetting. You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to wait for a stone. You only need to care about something just enough to preserve it - a joke, an image, a belief, an observation.
Carve your words before you take leave. Before you start forgetting what you meant to say. Before you must wave goodbye as we all eventually do. 9 replies
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