LET’S MEET AGAIN To you, Grandma:
The last time we were together was 13 years ago, February 23rd, 2004. I will never forget this date. I can still remember the phone call mom received about your death. The terror in her voice still haunts me to this day. The memories I shared with you are blurry, yet I still carry around a few recollections of our times together. I often remember moments when we’d get together at your house with grandpa and eat yakisoba and fried rice. Fried rice is still my favorite dish. Sometimes we make it at grandpa’s house, but it just isn’t the same. I miss your fried rice. I realize now what a blessing you were to our family. Sharing little nuances of japanese culture with us like taking our shoes off in the house, using chopsticks, and Totoro. I loved the way you flavored grandpa’s house, it reminds me now of a modern Japanese home: simple and clean with Japanese art draping the walls. I remember going into the house as a kid and feeling like I stepped into a different world. Grandpa still has pictures of you together in Japan when you first met in the
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The Paper Mixtape
late ‘50s. It makes me so happy seeing my youthful grandparents. When I’m looking at those photos, it’s like I’m seeing you and grandpa together for the first time. Growing up I always wished I was more Japanese, But once you passed, I just went on living mostly forgetting about my culture. I can recall one specific candy you would give us, they were little milk caramels called “Morinaga’s Milk Caramel.” Do you remember giving these to us? Whenever I want to chase the feeling of being a kid at your house again, I eat those little milk caramels you so lovingly gave us. The second the taste hits me, my mind is flooded with nostalgia. I try to eat them sparingly because I never want those feelings to float away. I do remember seeing you on some of your worst days. When I was a kid I couldn’t understand what was happening, I only knew you were “sick.” But what was “sick?” I now ask myself this 13 years later. You were homesick, you never gave up your citizenship to Japan and you never properly learned English. You always lived in Japan even when in America. Japan was in your house, you language, your life. You created
Issue 6 Winter 2018
