Autobiography Final Draft

My Grandfather's Death

Autobiography Final Draft

Paulette Hoang Dinh Professor Wendy Sumner-Winter English 1010 C12

09/17/2009

The worst day in my life was the day I found out that my grandfather had passed away. He was the one who taught me how to become a person I would not regret to be. I loved my grandfather dearly and still do. Everyone dies it just a matter of sooner or later and in which way. No one can live forever as a human being but they can still live in the memories of other.

At the age of fourteen in my ninth grade year, my family and I received a very terrible new. I have lost the most important person to me. My grandfather had raised and took care of me. It was the worst day ever for me to have heard that my beloved grandfather had passed away on his visit back to Vietnam.

My family members, called over here to America from Vietnam, told my grandmother that my grandfather had passed away. He passed away with a smile on his face, very peaceful and happy. They said it seemed like he knew he was leaving, because he told them to call grandma and tell her to live the rest of her life happy and safe. When they asked him do he want anything to eat he told them, "No thank you, I am leaving now to eat dinner with my father. No matter what happen in a few minutes no one is allowed to cry." With those last words, he closed his eyes and passed away with a smile on his face.

I was very close to my grandfather more than anyone else. He was the one who saw how I grew up. He was the one who watch over me from day to night, while my parents were away. He was the one who sang a lullaby that calmed me down to sleep. At the age of one and a half my grandfather taught me how to walk. He has always encouraged me to do my best no matter how many times I have fallen. When I was young I was very picky about my food. I did not like to eat at all. When I did not eat my grandfather always found different ways that would be fun for me to eat my food.

Around the age of my teen years my grandfather still made sure that I would eat more and was in good health. He taught me about plants and nature. I received my love for nature from my grandfather. He told me about how important it was for me to stay in school and to get my education. He taught me that being kind with other was the best way to earn others respects and friendships. I learned from him that no matter if I was having a bad day or was mad for some reason I should always help, be very polite and kind to other people.

My grandfather was a very wise, kind, and helpful man. He has a green thumb in gardening. He spent most of his life time in his garden. He grew all sorts of plants from roses, to trees, to vegetables. His job was a gardener for a plant store. He grew all sorts of plants for customers to buy and taught them how to plant and take care of their plants. Whenever my siblings and I came over his house he would taught us how to take care and grow our own plants. Afterwards he would let us choose either if we want to stay out in the garden with him to take care of the plants or we could go inside to play games. Most of the time all of my siblings and I would stay outside with my grandpa until it was time to eat.

Not only was my grandfather wise, kind, and helpful he was also a very hardworking man. Usually after a hard day at work people would go straight into their house and relax. Not my grandfather though, he would go straight out to the garden and afterwards spent time with all of his grandchildren. Whenever he got a chance he would tell us about how he lived in Vietnam where the family was so poor that they hardly have any rice to eat. He used to tell us about the Vietnam's War and how he was working alongside the American soldiers who were sent to Vietnam to help the Southern Vietnamese (democratic) fight against the Viet Cong (communist). He also told us about when he was traded in with another soldier and was allowed to go back home for a while. He had to take everyone in the family, twelve children and my grandma, into hiding when the bombing started.

He always taught us how to be a good person and how that will have a reward of its own for us later on in life. He told us that in order to be a good person was to be a hardworking, kind, helpful, polite, and good. Girls were to be very ladylike and must take care and protective of our own body. Boys were to be gentlemen and must be respectful of the girls' privacy. Girls and boys should not play around with each other in a way that was not appropriate. No one was to play games with relationship and love. We were told that if we were not ready to love or have commit to the other person love then we were to tell them we were sorry but we were not ready. We were not to go along with someone and made them think that we were honest and truly love them. My grandfather had always told us that honesty was the way to go no matter if the other person played around with our hearts we must stay honest. They could played around and it would come right back around to slap them in the face to show what they had done wrong. We were told that if we keep up with our honesty and loyalty we would be rewarded for our patient and truthfulness by life.

Each time he was finish teaching us a lesson he backed his lessons with real life stories. He told us about how each characteristic that he had taught us apply to everyday life and what type of rewards we get afterwards. He told us about how the characteristics that he taught were the foundation to our uncles and auntie success in life and their wealth. He told us about how he applied the characteristic and ended up with grandma to married. He told us about how the cheat, steal, lies, and many other characteristics would in the end harm us in a way that might even forced us in suicide.

All of our characteristics were mainly built up upon our grandfather advice and direction. We were now acting the way traditional Vietnamese children should act was all thanks to our wise grandfather. When he was alive he made sure that we did not go down the wrong path. Our grandfather loved all of us dearly. All of these actions were the ones that I missed the most from my grandfather.

After I heard about my grandfather's death I cried for a week or so, because I did not saw nor spent time with my grandfather before he passed away. To add more pain I could not to his funeral because it was taken place in Vietnam and I was still in school. My exams were coming up in a few days so my mother did not allow me to go back to Vietnam to go to my grandfather's funeral. My mother told me that day that my grandfather would not want me to miss my exams for his funeral. If I did missed it for him then he would be very sad, so I listened to my mother's words and did not went with my grandmother and my three uncles who were going back to attend my grandfather's funeral.

That was the worst day ever in my life to this very day it would still brings my pain and tears to remember that I have lost my grandfather. I did feel a little bit better now knowing that my beloved grandfather went to a better place. Everyone loses a special person or someone close to them sooner or later. Everyone has to live and die. No one can live forever in a human form but they can always live in the memories of the people who love and care for them. The day that a person who dies is not the end but just that he/she is starting a new journey of his/her life.