성묘

자세한 날짜도 모르면서 추석이 이 때 쯤이지 싶은 생각이 들어 얼마전 부모님묘를 찾았었다.

묘에 잔디가 거의 없고 단단한 진흙땅이 허옇게 드러나 있더라는. 한국과 달리 이 곳 에서는 관리사무소에서 잔디를 관리하게 되어 있어 몇 개월 전 사무실직원에게 상황을 이야기했고 인부들이 잔디씨와 부토를 덮어논 걸 확인도 했었는데 아마 단단한 땅에 그냥 뿌려 놓아 큰 비에 고스란히 씻겨 내려간 모양.

제놈이 사는 집의 잔디는 눈이 부실 정도의 푸른색으로 잘 가꿔, 집을 다녀가는 손님마다 침을 튀며 칭찬할 정도면서 정작 부모님묘는 그렇게 초라하게 놔뒀다는 사실에 내 자신이 싫어짐.

그래서 오늘은 새벽예배를 마치고 선선한 시간을 이용해 작업을 하리라 마음먹고 잔디씨, 비료, 물 등을 구입하고 몆 가지 연장을 챙겨 묘지로 향했다. 아마 오늘 포스팅은 멀리 있어 와보지 못한 한국과 매릴랜드주 식구들을 위함일지 싶다.

집 뒷쪽으로 난 한적한 시골길로 달려

드디어 묘지 입구에 도착

 보이는 바와 같이 맨땅이 허옇게...

묘 바로 옆에서 주렁주렁 달려 익어가고 있는 고염나무 열매
(감과 맛이 똑같으나 체리토마토 정도크기의)

일단 요란하게 벌려놓고...

곡괭이로 딱딱한 땅을 한 번 뒤집어 주고 

그 위에 잔디씨와 오랜시간 물을 머금을 수 있는 성분이 혼합되어 있는 걸 뿌려준 후

Miracle Grow라는 비료를 물에 조금 섞은 다음 

다음 주에 돌아와 물을 다시 줄 때 까지 견딜 수 있게 충분하게 물을 공급

기존의 꽃 묶음을 버리고, 한국에서 왔던 누님이 떠나가시기 전

정성스레 만들어 놓았던 가을 꽃 묶음을 꽂아주고는 마무리

앞으로 잔디씨가 발아해서 뿌리를 내리고 싹을 내 어느정도까지 자랄 때 까지는 매주 물을 가지고 와 말라죽지 않게 할 예정. 내년 봄 쯤엔 푸르게 덮여있는 묘소를 보여 줄 수 있을 거란 기대를 가지고...

<To the children of our family>

Hey!

It was the CHUSEOK few days ago which is one of the biggest holidays that Korean people celebrate. The time that you show your respect and thanksgiving to your parents and ancestors whether they are live or deceased. Something compatible in US would be Memorial Day & Thanksgiving Day COMBINED! 

So I visited grandparents' at the time and found out that there are bare spots everywhere on them without any grass. I've decided to pack some grass seeds, fertilizer, water, some tools and do some work early this morning. 

I tilled up the hard ground to make it soft so that the seeds can root easily and sprinkled the mixture of the grass seeds and the material that holds the water for a long time. Even though I watered up with 8 gallons but will have to come back few more times for watering until the seeds sprout and start growing their roots firmly on the ground.

Hope I will be able to show you the picture of 'greener' grandparents by next spring! Love you!

Update on grandpa

My apologies for my previous posting! Eunice has complained about my Korean posting. You, children in our family, who can not read Korean. Please remember it's all your fault for not being able to read Korean!!!! How many times have we, grown-ups, emphasized to you of the importance of learning Korean since you were a little kid?

1. On 20th, Saturday, grandpa was found lying on the his apartment hallway by the neighbor tenants and carried into his unit. According to what the neighbors said to me, he asked them to carry him to grandma's room. So this must've been another episode related to his high blood pressure since the confusion is one of his symptoms whenever his blood pressure soars high. Up until 19th night, he had stayed at my house for about a week. He always insists that he would stay in his apartment. But last time, he volunteered to come in to my house and made everyone wondering why. But we found out the reason why soon. He had left my house on 20th morning and took his car leaving a note at the door step saying "I am leaving. 4AM". Previously I took his car to my house and take his key away from him because we all worried about him getting into car accidents.

2. As soon as I received a phone call from his friend at the apartment, I went there to check. The blood pressure he had measured and recorded right before it happened was 180 over 90. The high blood pressure was the reason. Because one of his symptoms when his pressure goes up is the confusion. It accompanies few other symptoms such as being weakened, blurry vision, hearing high pitched continuous metalic sound that no other people can hear, and the slow speech. All these symptoms go away after few minutes pass.

3. I contacted our family physician, Dr. Lee, about this and he ordered me to take grandpa to the hospital ER in Petersburg, VA, where his office is nearby. After finding nothing wrong out from few tests(CT scan, X-ray, and EKG/ECG), a rookie ER doctor gave a nasty look on his face and said "Nothing wrong and normal with him!" So I told him that I am aware of that and Dr. Lee is going to move him to the patient room so that he can bring in all the specialists to pinpoint what causes these sysmptoms and do the treatment. So that guy gave ER nurses an order to move him up.

4. In Sunday morning, Dr. Lee visited grandpa to talk to him. At around the noon, grandpa suddenly got out of the bed and grabbed his jacket trying to put in on. So I asked him why. He said "Don't you see the riot is going on around here? Let's run away from this scene!" I calmed him down to the bed and saw his focus/vision was blurred as well. Then the nurse rushed in saying her beeper went off because the system detected his heart rate went up abnormally. I asked her to take his blood pressure right then. It was 190 over 100. But good thing is that all these numbers are recorded into the system this time along with the symptoms. Later in the afternoon, a neuroloy doctor came by to see him and a heart doctor visited with his ultra-sound heart scanner.

5. After seeing all the doctors yesterday, I finally came back home at night. Today, Monday, I will go back to him after I get off work. Unfortunately, I've spent all my annual and sick leave time on grandma's and grandpa's recent hospital stays and have no choice but to work regular hours and spend time with them in the evening.

Please don't be alarmed too much because he is pretty normal and healthy other than one or two brief episodes of these a day. We need all your prayers so that doctors find the exact cause and the solution. Now it's not safe for him to stay in the apartment by himself or stay in my house either. As you know I and my wife work all the time and grandma can not hear well from her room and she is a patient herself as well. So long, kids!