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A thread about my mother: She was born in South Korea, in a rural area, possibly a rice farm, and was abandoned at a young age because her parents had a boy and most likely couldn’t afford two children. In Korean culture, especially at that time, the son was more valuable.
She was adopted at 5 from an orphanage by my german/jewish grandparents. My great grandmother was also part Native American. Her first father in the US was abusive and my grandmother left him. Her second husband, a good father, died when my mother was a teenager.
At 18 years old she got pregnant with me, from my 20 year old father, a boy in the Navy who she’d been casually dating for a few months. She had a budding modeling and potential acting career at the time and she was told to get an abortion to maintain her figure.
She had me regardless and because she was tiny she got extensive stretch marks from me as well as weight gain. She told me from the moment she found out she was pregnant that she loved me and knew she would keep me. She tells me I’m the best thing that ever happened to her.
My father moved across the country when I was 4, leaving us, and she was a single mother for a year before she married my stepfather. She worked multiple jobs to keep us afloat and unfortunately I spent most of that year with a babysitter.
She worked so hard to provide for me and give me everything I wanted. She got me a gameboy and all the action figures I wanted. She bought me art supplies and encouraged me to be creative. She came to my school plays and I saw her out in the crowd smiling and waving at me.
She has always struggled with mental illness and survived a couple attempts of suicide. She experienced so much neglect and abuse in her life, since she was a child. But her love for me was so pure, so gentle and bountiful like flowers in spring.
I owe her everything. To the strongest woman I know, Happy Mother’s Day. We come from resilient people, we have strong Korean blood. There will never be another person like you, another love like yours. I love you Mom.
