Money Man

            Old people are everywhere. They go on daily morning walks at six in the morning with their little fluffy dog named Daisy, they greet everybody they see with a very big smile, and they love sitting on their front porch with a cup of coffee, just staring at their neighbors’ houses. Old people remind me of my grandpa, he is a happy old man that plays golf, watches the stock market, and takes naps in the afternoon every day. Every time I see my grandpa, he asks me how many girlfriends I have and when I am going to be better than him at golf. Then after the interrogation, he goes to his room and hands me a wad of cash.

            Growing up, I loved being around my grandparents. They live in Taiwan, so my family used to go back every winter to visit them. A day in Taiwan for me as a kid would start with going to the gigantic mall called Sogo with my sister and my grandparents all day, and then playing games around the night markets in Taipei at night. My grandpa would always spoil me and my sister by getting us lots of yummy food and fun toys, filling our tummies and suitcases up with random things that you could never find in the United States. He would also take me on walks to the bank, where he took me around the ins-and-outs of the building to say hi to every single employee. Then we would go to the coffee shop right next to his apartment and talk about random things until my grandma told us to go back.

            As a little kid, I always thought that my grandpa was always an old man, and he was born that way. I never thought about how his life was growing up and how he was as a father to my dad and my aunt. As I grew up, I was able to understand more and more of the family lore and the story of my grandpa’s life that ultimately enables him to spoil me every time I see him.

            My grandpa was the oldest of seven or eight siblings. I say seven or eight because nobody is sure how many infants died at birth. He grew up right after World War 2, when control of Taiwan was first given to the Republic of China. The economy in Taiwan was depressed as it experienced constant inflation and shortage of goods. My grandpa’s childhood home reflected Taiwan’s struggling economy, the building is located on rural farmland. It looks like a blue shack and is equipped with three bedrooms and one bathroom. The concrete inside the house was so dirty that it is permanently dyed black. In the whole house there was one light in the living room and had basically no plumbing. The condition of the home is so bad that two years ago the home was deemed uninhabitable.

            My grandpa moved out at around 16 in search for a better life. He worked hard in school and was able to be the first in his family to go to college and graduate. According to my father, my grandpa was a role model for my great-uncles. They were inspired by their older brother to go pursue an education to help their chances of getting a high paying job. Out of college, my grandpa got a job at Taiwan Cooperative Bank, one of the major banks in Taiwan. His salary helped him get an apartment for him and my grandma in Taipei. Over the years, he was promoted multiple times and finally earned his title as executive vice-president. He retired after decades of hard work and became the happy grandpa I know today.

            I am grateful for what my grandpa has done for me. Without his hard work, my dad would not have been able to come to the United States for grad school and find stable jobs in the Bay Area. My grandpa is an example of “hard times create strong men,” and is proof that anybody can achieve their dreams. He is getting older now and age comes with health complications. Who knows when it will be the last time I can see him, all I can do is hope for the best and pray. No matter what, his story will continue to inspire me and my aspirations to achieve my dreams. Keep pushing forward, make dreams reality.