Meet My Folks – (Chapter 3)

My mother loves to talk.  She will talk to anyone who will listen.  Though her English is poor, she has made friends with all the neighbors in just a short time, of which include a great-grandmother, a woman who is a professional clown, and a gay couple down the street.  I think they exchange decorating ideas.  Half the time when I call her, she has to switch over from the other line.  But with me, when we talk, it’s rarely small-talk.  Again, I think I’ve learned to practically read her mind.  So I can tell how she is doing after just a couple of minutes.

My father is content with reading, undertaking huge landscaping and home improvement projects, and playing solitaire on the computer.  Most of the time when he and I talk we’re debating theology or exchanging ideas for projects.  It’s hard to get a read on my dad because he’s not very expressive… except in one area – his writing.  I remember as a teenager, we’d get into these huge fights on simple misunderstandings.  I’d lock myself into my room and just stew thinking that he’s just a stubborn old fool.  Then after a couple of hours, a letter would slip under the door.  In it, in English of all things, he would be able to express himself so clearly that I understood that I was truly the fool all along.

My mother is also a bit vain.  I say this in complete love because I find it quite endearing.  Because so many people in Atlanta have heard her sing, she is somewhat of a minor celebrity within the Korean community there.  She would really enjoy it when the owner of a restaurant would give her a free fish as “service” because they heard her sing sometime in the past.  She was also quite young looking throughout her 40’s.  She loved it when I was younger and people would think that I was her husband… she would just giggle gleefully and say, “Oh, no, this is my son!  So you think I look young enough to be married to him?”  Oh, but it has a darker side as well… one time as I was watching her sing in the chorus, she turned her head the other way when the smaller chamber chorus started to sing.  Later, I asked her why she did this and she said that it was because she was not chosen to be a part of the chamber chorus even though she knew she could sing better than the sopranos they chose.  We both laughed – me, because I knew she was telling the truth about her display of vanity – her, because she knew I caught her.

My father is also quite stubborn and oftentimes won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.  One time this hardware store was going out of business.  Everything was selling for 50% off.  He saw this fountain in the garden section that he thought would look great in our yard.  He asked the nearest sales person how much it was for the fountain.  The sales person said that it was just a part of the display and it was not for sale.  My father kept hounding him and following him around the store.  He told him that the store must have bought the fountain at sometime and that he’d be willing to pay half the cost on the receipt if the store kept it when they bought it.  The sales person kept saying ‘no’.  Finally, my father said, “Listen, this store is going out of business, right?  What are you going to do with it?  You’re going to probably have to pay someone to move it away.  I’m offering you money for it!”  Finally the sales person couldn’t argue with that and gave in and took my father to the owner.  He now has that fountain in his yard.

I’ve spent the last two days with them now.  For the most part it was uneventful.  One humorous thing I found out last night at dinner.  I asked my dad why he married my mom.  He said that he originally wanted to marry a really godly career woman who could support them while he was going to school to get his doctorate in America.  But after he was introduced to my mom (a woman with really no marketable skills and not particularly a strong Christian back then) he was smitten by her beauty and made some adjustments to his plan.  I then asked my mom why she chose my dad, and she said that she could tell he was very intelligent with a bright future and on one of their outings he killed a bug for her.  Oh, I also found out that they’re planning a trip to Caracas, Venezuela for the fall.  I’m just glad they told me this time.

Epilogue:  Just a few minutes ago, in the wee hours this morning (Mon), my parents started their long drive back to Atlanta.  My dad’s last words to me – “Be good.”  My mom’s last words to me – “Go back in the house before you catch cold.”  It’s always an odd feeling saying “Goodbye” to them knowing it’s going to be months before I see them again.  I always feel like I have to say more, but I don’t know quite what.  I guess even for all the grief they give me sometimes, I feel immensely blessed by God to have them as parents.  May the Lord bless your journey mom and dad.