Chanjae Lee is a 75-year-old grandfather who lives in Brazil. He is Korean by descent and his son Ji Lee calls him a "grumpy old man."
As grumpy as he may be, he still loves his grandchildren who until recently lived near him in Brazil. Chanjae used to spend his days taking his grandkids Arthur and Allan to and from school.
However, Arthur and Allan's mom decided to move their family back to their native home in Korea, leaving Chanjae alone in Brazil without anything to do.
Chanjae's family, especially his son Ji wanted to give him something to do other than watching Korean TV. Then Ji, who is currently a New York-based designer, remembered how his father used to like to draw for him when he was a kid.
Ji presented an idea to Chanjae , that he should rediscover his love of drawing and post his works to Instagram as a way of keeping in touch with his grandkids across the world.
Being "a grumpy old man," Chanjae hated the idea at first – he didn't even know what Instagram was! His son jokes that he only uses his phone for calls and can't even text in a video he made to document this story.
However, his tech savvy also 75-year-old wife does text, she even uses Instagram! So, it was decided that Chanjae could draw and his wife would do the posting.
He was slow to start drawing at first, but everything changed when Ji's son Astro was born. When grandma and grandpa came to visit Ji and Astro in New York he realized how powerful his drawing could become as a way for his grandkids to connect with and remember him – even after he is gone.
Now Chanjae creates a drawing for his grandchildren every day, and even sells his works to raise money so he can go see them.
Please SHARE this story, and be sure to check out Chanjae's account @drawings_for_my_grandchildren on Instagram!
