My grandma always wants to give me more. When I was in elementary school, she bought me a desk for hard study. She paid for school uniforms in my middle and high school days. When I became a college student and lived alone, she sent me various side dishes. She always asked me if I needed anything.
During the Korean national holiday Chuseok a few years ago, my grandma gave me a gift of shoes. She had even asked my aunt and cousin to choose my shoes with a fashionable design that suited me well. When I returned to my place after the holiday, she followed me to the bus terminal to see me off though I tried to dissuade her. I got on the bus with her love in my heart but I felt empty with no reason. Then I noticed the shoes my grandma had bought me were lost, which I was holding a moment ago.
I couldn’t bear to tell my grandma the truth, so I called my aunt and explained what was going on. The aunt was taken aback and said she would go to the terminal and look for it. Just to be sure, I called the terminal office but I got the only reply, “No shoes are found.” I couldn’t do anything on the bus that had already departed, so I just stamped my feet anxiously. About two hours later, my cousin called me.
“Sister, you don’t check your message? Call Grandma quickly and thank her.”
At her blunt words, I checked the text message, puzzled. The cousin sent me a picture of the shopping bag with my shoes. I couldn’t believe how the shoes returned. It turned out that as soon as my grandma heard the news, she came back to the terminal and found it at the terminal store where she bought me snacks.
I was choked up, feeling sorry to have caused her another anxiety because of my carelessness. I called her quickly and said thank you and sorry. Grandma said, “Let me send it by delivery service. Wear them well.” My grandma’s love is the greatest gift I’ve ever received.
Just because of my shyness, I haven’t expressed my gratitude properly to her; perhaps I got used to receiving and took it for granted. Now, however, although I am far away from her, I want to be a closer granddaughter than anyone else. I will also express more gratitude and love to her though it wouldn’t be enough to repay half of her gifts.