Content warning: suicide. I knew when I set out to write this post, it would be one of the more challenging ones. Grief. At the risk of sounding overly melodramatic, my life is punctuated by this word. In particular, my early childhood before going to live with my adoptive parents was marked by numerous losses, … Continue reading Grief is a Tricky Thing
March 18, 2020 set in motion a series of events that had me fumbling on hands and knees down uncharted territory. Our Dragon's school closed one day before spring break and she would not return. Our Monkey would also not return after this day. My husband and I had been waiting cautiously to see what … Continue reading The Adventure I Never Wanted
Code Switch: Our Homeland is Each Other (10/10/2018) Before reading, I invite those who are following and reading along on my journey to pause and listen to this whole episode. My words cannot do justice for what the interviewees do in this episode. Second, I am one person and I am not in this space … Continue reading Let’s Talk about Transracial Adoption
Writing on this topic has weighed on my mind for a bit and putting all my swimming thoughts and emotions into words has felt out of reach. Becoming a mother is what drove me further on my journey so it should be expected that this process would affect my approach and experiences with parenting. Parenting … Continue reading Parenting as an Adoptee
In the coming week I'll be presenting at a couple of conferences on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). As I've been preparing, it got me thinking a lot about adoption and ACEs. Here's my disclaimer...my work is currently in the health promotion field and has been in the field of therapy with a focus on trauma, … Continue reading Adoption is an Adverse Experience
Every time I do this, I am breaching the sacred pact of our family, our once-shared belief that my race is irrelevant in the presence of their love. But withholding hard truths and my honest opinions would also sell short the love I have for them, and they for me.Nicole Chung, All You Can Ever … Continue reading The Weight of Being Chosen
Like so many others, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about many changes to our home, homemade 김치 (kimchi) being one of the better changes. For those who don't have an intimate relationship with 김치 (kimchi), it is a staple food in Korea. Most folks typically associate it with the traditional fermented cabbage variety … Continue reading The Art of Kimchi
It's my recollection and understanding that Korean was my first language; English followed shortly thereafter. I spoke Korean fluently until I was about nine. It was then I went to live with my parents so I didn't have anyone I could speak the language with. Now, some 25 plus years later, I'm trying to regain … Continue reading Relearning My Native Language
My identity has never been a mystery and yet has always been intangible, unattainable. I sometimes think of my life as a collection of individual books, rather than chapters, as my story seems so distinctly marked by specific moments. I was born to two Korean parents who immigrated to the United States. My early formative … Continue reading Starting Out
Rediscovering My Seoul 