“Mom, I want to hear your story”

One of my best friends, Amy (who helped me create this site and inspired this piece), gave me the book, “Mom, I want to hear your story,” to help inspire me with topics, themes, and ideas to share. There are A LOT of interesting questions, so I’m just going to go about it methodically; below are my current recollections of my “early years”:

I was born in Hayward, California, at Kaiser Hospital (same hospital chain your dad was born at, but in SF), and there are no records of what my first words were or when I started to walk, etc. – things that are apparently expected to be recorded for this generation of parents (we have a different parenting memo than earlier generations). The picture is of Popo holding me for my 100 day celebration party, I’m pretty sure.  For the record, I think Jonah’s first word was “the mall” as he was repeating something we had just said about going to the mall; and for Jess it was probably “na na” which is short for Jonah, since she wasn’t able to say Jonah as a baby.  As for walking, Jonah’s first steps were around 11 months, when Uncle Larry and Uncle Timmy gave him quite a few oranges, and the sugar high resulted in stumbling first steps.  For Jess, I believe it was a little after one year old – and it was in Korea, when Popo and Dong Dong were visiting us. We had moved there when Jess was 6 months and spent a year there for your dad’s work. Jess learned to crawl and walk in that apartment in “UN Village” in Hannam-dong. She was learning to walk and her first steps was stumbling towards Popo, which gave all of us so much joy in that moment. 

There is a question about how old your parents were when you were born; instead of answering that, I want to share this – your Popo was 4 months older than your Dong Dong (what you called him as a kid; it’s supposed to be Gung Gung, but you couldn’t make the G sound yet, so the “Dong Dong” name stuck), and back then, the norm (what was accepted) was for the guy to be older than the girl, so my Popo (your great grandmother) was not super happy about their relationship. However, over time, she accepted the age difference, and in fact, they got along well and really liked cracking jokes with each other.

There aren’t stories I grew up hearing about the day I was born, but what I can share are the highlights of your births, and the family and friends who surrounded me and your dad with so much love and support, which made the days even more special.  We felt so blessed to have one healthy, happy Jonah, and then to have a Jessica/Jess/Meis really completed our little family.  One boy and one girl – that’s the same as Popo and Dong Dong, and I imagine that they felt the same about me and Fufu.

A favorite childhood memory is having play dates with Auntie Anny at her home in Fremont, and my grandfather (Dong Dong’s dad) would drive me there after school so we could play.  It was a special treat and I always had fun, and wished that it would last forever.  I think I still feel the same way even now, 30+ years later, some of my fondest memories are of spending time with Auntie Anny (and any of your Aunties), just talking and laughing, while taking a walk or sharing a meal together.  One of my wishes for you is to also find happiness and joy in the simple act of spending time with family and friends over a meal or an activity.