My Grandpas

When I was a child,  I used to be very proud of having a complete family, meaning that I have a mother and a father and two elder sisters and also, a complete set of grandparents.Well, I'm not so lucky now.

On the first February last year, my grandpa, my dad's father, whom I called Akong, passed away. He was the first closed person to die, and I was really sad.  I used to be very closed to my Akong.When I was little, my Akong lived in Medan and I in Jakarta, and he occasionally flew to Jakarta by plane. Every time I saw a plane flew across the sky, I would say: "Hey! Akong's coming!" I remember that I used to sit on his lap and kissed his cheeks, I used to watch him clean his electric razor too. My Akong also got a talent in art. He would take one of the encyclopedias my mum bought me and he would drew the animals featured in the book. He's drawing was really good, and there are some drawing books full of his paintings.

My Akong was a successful businessman and the stroke he got in his early seventies caused a serious blow in his life. Because of his health condition, he had to move to Jakarta and live with my family.

However, as I grew older, my relationship with my Akong grew distant. I deal with my own problems, concentrated on school stuffs, and going out with friends. One day, my Akong suddenly fell sick after taking a chinese medication, he went to hospital by ambulance and spent a week in ICU until he passed away. I was sorry I didn't spend more time with him.

And now, my other grandpa, my mom's father, whom I call Kungkung is sick. He recently had to stay in the hospital because he got really ill. He also got blood when he coughed, and we all guessed that he got a lung cancer, but after further check-up, the doctor diagnosed that my Kungkung got a thyroid cancer, and the cancer has spread to his liver and his brain. We're all really shocked by the news. And we finally decided that my Kungkung wouldn't undergo any cancer treatment such as chemotherapy because he's too old and fragile.

Anyway, after my family got the bad news, we began to spend more time with Kungkung, I go to my Popo's (grandma, mom's mother) more often, and we have more family gathering. I would chat with him, trying to cheer him up, and he seems to be happier when his family is around.

Bottom line is, keep your friends and family close. You never know.