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Passing On

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ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- Laura's grandfather passes away.
After long hours of studying totally foreign HTML code, i finally finished fixing my blog and was all ready with new material to mock things with. But in light of recent events, i have decided to write something a little more meaningful instead.

Two days ago, my grandfater on my mom's side passed away. I wasn't aware that he was suffering from any kind of heart disease, but i never did hear about him very often. I think the last time i saw my grandfather must have been at least a decade ago. I can't actully remember the reunion very well, but i can recall a photo of the reunion that sits on the mantle at my parents' house. Judging by the way i look in the picture (and by the magenta & turquoise outfit i was wearing), i'd guess that i was in about 4th grade at the time.

My grandfather was born in China in 1908. He lived there until the 1930s when civil war between communists and republicans created a lot of unrest. Eventually the communists pushed the republicans out of the country and the island of Taiwan served as a sort of safe haven for the political refugees, my grandfather included. Years later during WWII, my grandfather served in the taiwanese army, where he acted as an ambassador to the United States. I don't really know much about his army times, but I bet my grandfather had some really impressive tales to tell. Too bad my grandfather didn't speak much english when he moved to the US and never really picked up the second language. Plus, the language limitation appears to have been passed down through the generations, showing itself in my sad broken excuse for Chinese. I have never really had the opportunity to communicate with my grandfather. My mom never really encouraged it anyway. Maybe he wasn't as great of a dad as he was a military man.

In my head, my grandfather is a balding chinese man sitting on a cushioned chair and hiding behind a big newspaper. When i was young, he got to play the role of the cool granparent after my brother and i observed that he was actually reading comic strips and not the boring part of the newspaper. This amused me as a child, since it was broke with the notion that grown-ups are always boring. He seemed to have a sense of humor.

The funeral is in Atlanta, one week from Saturday. I'm not sure if i'm going to go, since i didn't really know him so well and it's so far away. This is the first time i have known anyone who passed away. i'm not sure what to do.
He was an impressive 96 years of age when he died.
  ¶ 9:39 PM