Here's to You, Pa!

Home can be a funny thing when you have been away for so long. The rearranging of the furniture, the new guests, the removal of shrubs, pools and trees, the addition of a garden, the repainting of a shed- all these things can really pull the rug out from underneath you when you're expecting certain things to stay they way they have always been. But even underneath all those changes, all those evolutions of your past, there will always be a sweet memory of comfort and belonging.


After Richard's Wedding in Taidong, I received a phone call that my last grandparent's health was failing. These things are tough, but being on the other side of the world makes them just that more difficult. I booked a flight home and was back in Boston 30 hours later, only to find out I missed my chance to say goodbye 12 hours earlier. I miss my grandfather, but I don't regret missing the chance to say goodbye. My relationship with him was not based on a goodbye. It was based on the last 25 years of being together, when I would spend the week with him as a child; when I would show him my new magic tricks and learn the good ones for his float in the July 4th parade; when he gave me my first car ever; when I would go down 2-3 times a week in high school and college to mow the law and sit and talk with him and my grandmother. I don't regret a minute of my time spent with him, and my time abroad was inspired by his love of travel and encouragement to see the world. So while I was not there for the one second at the end, I was there for the other 25 years and those are the things I think about when he comes to mind, those are the thing's I'll miss.


But in his great ways, he did one more thing for me- he got me home to see my nephew Mmamoon. The last time I saw Moons, he was just a month old and he slept quietly in my arms. Over the next year and a half he grew up not knowing who I was and that pained me greatly. But being able to see him at 1 and half years old was the greatest gift I had all year long- he was a joy in my life like none other. My grandfather brought me back to see my nephew so I could spend two wonderful weeks with him. Thanks Pa!


The two weeks home were bittersweet. Like I said- the new changes to the layout of my house was difficult. Returning back to my grandparent's home with no one there was difficult. But seeing the smile on Mmamoon's face the minute I walked in the door was one of the happiest moments of my life.


I relearned what it meant to play soccer out side. The sandbox was rebuilt for him and it was much deeper this time. We took ice cream trips (even though he couldn't even begin to comprehend how awesome the cold thing in his hand was right then and there). I went back to my pizza restaurant, my academy, my Maj Drag, to see my friends in Boston from high school and college, and all the things that define as American Mike and not Taiwan Mike. But I brought new things to the table too- I took my sister and her husband to a Taiwanese restaurant in China Town, my parents to a Dim Sum restaurant that, quite honestly, rivaled some of the fare in Honkers, and even ate at my sister's new restaurant!


The trip was an emotional slide between death and life, and all of us caught between. But like all my trips home, the greatest part was spending time with my family. My relationship with my sister and her family and my parents is something I will treasure. We were all living under one house, and while that can be stressful at times, it was really nice to see the old kitchen alive again with laughter and stories. I love my family very much and I look forward to spending time with them in the years to comes. So even as things change- no more pool, no more tree, no more bedroom- and as the faces around the dinner table come and go, some things stay the same. I have changed too- I have seen a great deal and tried many new things. My parents see me differently- they see me now as a young man that has spread his wings. Sometimes I fly high, sometimes I fly low, but in the end, I'll always fly home.


From the son in the Delta, Mike.