My Very First Best Friend

Written by: Chris Nguyen | 🕒 3 minute read

When you were growing up, did you ever have a best friend? Was your best friend someone you knew since elementary school? Was your best friend a dog you just adopted? Or was your best friend an imaginary friend like from that show Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends? (If you guys don’t know what Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends is, it was a really good cartoon show from Cartoon Network back in the 2000’s 🙂).

Well, for me, my best friend was my Ông ngoại (maternal grandfather). If you’ve listened to my brother’s podcast Your Friends Were Wrong: Why Being ‘Entitled’ is Good, he mentioned how our Ông ngoại was a general in the Vietnam War and a program director/case worker for the Boston’s Vietnamese American Civic Association. But, what Nick didn’t tell you was that he was also our best friend when we were growing up.

Ever since I was little, my Ông ngoại was always there for me. He would watch anime with me and my siblings after we finished our homework. Whenever he traveled out-of-state to visit his friends, he would always bring back video games and pokemon cards for us. During summer vacation, he would take us to buy ice cream from the ice cream truck that rolled around outside of our house in Boston. After school, he would always wait for us and take us home. Man… those were some good times with him!  

I even remembered those times when the family ate at Pho Hoa back in Boston. My Ông ngoại would always share some of his food with me because two dishes weren’t enough to satisfy my hunger back then. (I know… two dishes… I think this is why I was so chubby back then 😑, but hey I was a growing kid.) 

As I grew older, the time that I got to spend time with my Ông ngoại grew thinner. Those hours where I used to watch anime with him were used to study for school. Instead of waiting for my Ông ngoại after school, I had to wait for my violin teacher. However, even though my time with him grew shorter, I still tried my best to spend time with him whenever I could.

But… as I started my 8th grade year, I didn’t expect that my time with my Ông ngoại would suddenly come to an end. I remembered that day when it all happened. It was just a normal day where my Ông ngoại would do his usual routine - eating, watching TV, going on a walk around the neighborhood. He was feeling like his usual self - healthy. But, as he went to sleep on that night, I never saw him wake up again. Without saying goodbye or any final words, my Ông ngoại left my life…

So for those of you out there, try to spend as much time as you can with your loved ones because you never know what might happen in the future. They can be gone, just. like. that.

May you rest in peace Ông ngoại. I will love you forever, always.