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By Yi Woo-won
Yunhyeok is the only child of my third daughter Jukyeong. I have four grandsons, one each from my three daughters and one from my only son. But, strangely, I seem to have a deeper affection for Yunhyeok and so did my late wife. This was probably because we sort of raised him for a few years after he was born. Both Jukyeong and her husband majored in art in college and had just started to run a private art academy in Daegu.
Shortly after Yunhyeok was born, my wife of an impetuous disposition went out to find a professional name-maker to give him the most auspicious name he could find. After consulting his books of Chinese divination and numerology against four pillars or elements of the child, the fortune teller finally came up with Yunhyeok meaning literally "Sincerity and Brightness." She was overjoyed when he assured her that the child would enjoy health, wealth, fame and longevity.
Despite the prophecy of his good name, my grandson's beginning in life was sadly inauspicious. He became suddenly ill when he was barely three months old. We took him to our pediatrician but his medicine didn't work. Then we took him to other doctors in town, including an acupuncturist whom we knew fairly well, but none of them seemed to know the name or cause of the illness. In the meantime, his condition was getting worse and worse. Then, one night about a week after the onset, I saw my daughter crying helplessly, rocking the baby in her arm. I was terrified when I thought the child was having convulsions with high temperature. At 2 a.m. I was behind the wheel rushing him to the emergency room of the Fatima Hospital where he was born.
He was hospitalized immediately in the intensive care unit. It was heartbreaking to see the little baby going through multiple painful tests. I turned my face when they were taking blood from his tiny arm. After hours of checkups and examinations, they came to the conclusion the next day that the cause of the problem he had been suffering from was calcium deficiency. We were so relaxed and enormously relieved.
Unbelievably, my little grandson was so strong and agile. In spite of the terrible ordeal that night, he had not only recovered his health fully, he started to walk now. He toddled about everywhere in the house, staggering and tumbling when he was in an awful hurry. He was really cute with great big eyes like those of his mother's when she was a child. I always had a camera ready to snap his handsome, innocent looks when he was seriously absorbed in doing something alone. Surprisingly still, he had a wonderful taste in music for a child. When he heard music on TV or from the radio, he started dancing quite rhythmically, waving his hands in the air, bending and unbending his knees. It was so funny and amusing that we soon joined him with cheers.
There were times when I was left alone to look after him full-time on weekends. He was now growing fast physically and mentally as well. He moved around constantly to explore his world of curiosity in the house. I was fully alert to make sure the hyperactive child wasn't doing something wrong. He loved to play with electric appliances by turning their switches on and off and enjoyed the beeps and alternating lights. When I finally took his hands off from the switches, saying "no-no," he screamed in protest. He knew that "no-no" and head-shakings were very bad and unfriendly to him. When he was extremely upset about my disapproval, his protests suddenly turned into a wild babbling, and I thought he was swearing at me.
Yunyheok is now 28 years old, tall, handsome and dignified. He's currently living in the United States, studying at a technical college in Washington to pursue his American dreams. He promised he would invite me over as soon as he was ready ― a visit that I have yearned for so long, but has regretfully been neglected too long.
Yi Woo-won (yiwoowon1988@gmail.com) lives in Waegwan, North Gyeongsang Province, and has been writing since 1986.
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