Irene

I’m going to see someone I care about a lot about tomorrow. Shes part of our family, even if we’re not blood related. I remember when I was living in Indiana, I would always whine about not having any family near us (or in the same country). Family is insanely important in the korean home. My dad’s family at Seoul all have houses next to each other and work at the family factory. My mom’s family all live on an island in Busan (the 2nd largest city in Korea), all within walking distance. We were the ones who were always left out of the family portraits.

I missed my family a lot, especially my grandmothers (my grandfathers both died before I was born). My dad had asked a lady near us if she wanted to act as a grandmother to me and my sister. We would play at her house, bake cookies together, play board games, garden, and etc. We got really close, and we’ve stayed close even after we moved to Florida 8 years ago. Shes visited us a few times and we talk frequently. When my mom passed away, she drove down here and stayed with us. Shes also a therapist, so she really helped me a lot when I was going through my mom’s death. Thanks to her I picked up the broken pieces of my life.

She told me she had been diagnosed with cancer about 5 months ago. She would always tell me how well her treatments are going, and how much shes gotten better. We’ve even skyped a few times and she seems great. I don’t know what happened but apparently shes not going to make it. I don’t know what to say. She looked absolutely horrid when we visited her a week ago. Actually, her condition was so bad we could only see her for 30min before she had to go rest.

She told us that she put me and my sister on her will as the sole recipient of her assets. I’m kind of mad. I know its not her fault, but I don’t want her to die. I want her to keep fighting, I want her to keep trying. I don’t want her money, I want her in my life. Irene, if you die, who’s going to help me get over your death?