Today Is My Grandmother’s Birthday

Grandmother

That is, today is her birthday according to the lunar calendar. She is 85. I was shocked she had enough strength to blow out her candles and not break or strain something. She pretended to be a Japanese man during World War II so she wouldn’t become a comfort woman. She popped out seven kids and has lost two. She broke five vertebrae in 2009. She has no cartilage in her right knee and a torn tendon in the left. She has Myasthenia Gravis which is where the immune system attacks the muscles.

But through it all, she’s still kicking. I have determined I will never live as long. But happy birthday to my 할머니.