42 Years Married; 2 Trips to Asia and Counting

On our last night in Kuala Lumpar, we were all walking back from Central Market on our way to an Irish Pub not far from the Petronas Towers. We had all immensely enjoyed the Malaysian food, but it seemed somehow symbolic to share an old fashion beer and fish n’ chips with my parents.

You see this was the second time my parents made it to Asia to visit me. The first time was 9 years ago when I first came to Korea. I think we all figured they should come right away. How long would I stay in Korea anyway? 9 years later I pitched the idea of a family trip. We decided on Malaysia. I’m so grateful they came because still two months later I smile with joy. Navigating the hot humid streets of Penang or KL wasn’t always easy, but that is what life’s about, right? It always comes back to love

After 42 years together, I’m sure my parents would agree.

I took this precious shot of my parents that night. For the two days we we were in KL, my father kept wondering out loud about the night fountain shows. Luckily Byongchan reminded me about it. We took a detour before settling down at the pub, and as soon as we sat down, the  water show began. It as if they were waiting for us.

Magic.

Memories.

Love.

Bonne anniversaire mame et pape. On vous aimes. XOXO

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Threes

For this week’s challenge, we are supposed to share three shots of the same subject. I took these candid shots between nephew and uncle during the Lunar New Year holidays.

A sweet uncle and nephew moment.

But wait! What’s that?

The unsuspecting uncle gets a little surprise: a nephew’s fart!

Hard to get angry with that face.

If you’re interested in joining this week’s photo challenge, click here.

Capturing the Possibility

Will SamSoon capture the squeaky toy?

Oh, the possibilities.

Witnessing the anticipation

For more photography, visit all the amazing blog entries at the Weekly Photo Challenge: Possibility

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Happy 90th Grandmère!

I knocked on grandmère’s back door. No response. I walked in. As I announced my arrival, she walked out of her bedroom looking at me with a sheepish grin,

“Quoi?”, I chuckled.  “What?”

“Oh… ehhhh…rien,” seeming to beg me to ask what was up.  “Ohhhh…nothing.”

“Vraiment?”, I said coyly “Really?”

“Oh, I was just about to throw this away”, pointing the wastebasket with photo in hand.

With her arthritic hand, she slowly gave it over to me.

“Grandmère! C’est-tu toi?” “Is it you?”

“Hi hi hi, oui”, slightly shouldering her head as she looked up at me with an open-mouthed smile. The smile she gleams when she realizes she has been caught telling us something surprising.

A bit like this one.

I couldn’t believe it. In all my life, I never imagined grandmère kicking up her heels for a photo shoot in her maillot!

That’s grandmère: full of surprises and stories!

These days her stories of times past are muddled together with memories of moments just passed. Now this wartime nurse, and resolved Catholic mother of 3 equally tenacious men, needs assistance doing what she always helped others to do: living a life with integrity and dignity.

Grandmère spent the better part of her life fighting for the equal rights of mentally and physically challenged people in our province. Her fight wasn’t in vain. Our community (Clare, Nova Scotia) now has two facilities that care for and support the well-being of such individuals. Grandmère was indeed a force to be reckoned with!

And so now, at 90, she needs similar care and support. She can’t cook for herself, and she spends most of her time napping in her rocking chair. She can’t tell us stories anymore.

But she still has the same smile, and for that, our family is grateful.

On Monday, it’ll be her 90th birthday. I won’t be able to be there, and she may not realize who I am if I call. Instead — in honor of the yarns she used to spin — I wanted to share this with all of you, and maybe through this process, she’ll somehow know that I am thinking of her.

~~ Bonne fête grandmère ~~