KHAN2
Ali I Khan
Robert Lunday, Ph.D.
ENG 1301
4/13/2018
Memoir 1
There are some people who come into your life and change it forever, and no matter what you can’t go back. There’s one friend who teaches you what being a real friend means, your first relationship teaches what it takes to make a relationship work, and those people who can teach you to always have fun no matter what. That was my grandpa, who raised me my entire life. My mother wasn’t ready for a child.
After my father's death she parted her ways from me as she wanted to start her new life with someone else. I never realized how much I yearned for a mother’s love until I realized I would never get it. All my life, I believed one day she’d wake up and see that I was a loveable son. One day she’d open her arms and welcome me into her heart. Thankfully, my grandfather was there for me. They have given me more than I ever could have asked for. It took a lot for me to realize how fortunate I was to be placed in their care.
Even though my grandpa passed away about 4 years ago, I still remember everything about him. If I could be like anybody, I would wish to become more like my late grandfather, whose memories have inspired me to strive for success, like the smell of old, dusty books which reminds me of his admiration on learning. An avid collector, he had many books, most of which went unread. He owned books on everything from medicine to Spain, to several sets of encyclopedias.
After he faced health problems, he came less to the library and read fewer books. They became just part of the scenery, collecting only dust and memories. I have read a few now, after he is gone, and each time it brings back a hurt like a sore that refuses to heal. Our house had two floors with three bedrooms on the top floor and the storage rooms, where some of the goats also stayed on the ground floor.
The house was built in the late 1800s before my father was born. However, the independent efforts of my grandfather established his early success in our business, as is evident by the roughness of his hands, a roughness resulting from the labor of his work throughout his life. At the same time, my father told me he would hold my father's hands, so gently with his rough hands when having a conversation with my father.
He was always a fun person and looked for new adventures. Together, I and him would always go out and look for new small local diners together. Every other weekend we would go to a different one. Even when the places were bad, he still had a good time and laughed and joked.
He made friends at every diner we ate together at. Sometimes the good ones, we’d go back, and the waitress would laugh and joke with him as they took our orders. I’ve always looked up to my grandpa and how he had a way with people and making everyone in a room laugh. He could always make me smile, no matter what the situation is.
I could be feeling down about something and he would go out of his way to make sure I felt bett...