Mom-mom

Growing up as a little girl without a mom may sound challenging. Fortunately for me, I had Mom-mom. Because of her, I never felt different compared to kids who had both their parents. Mom-mom’s love was that of a grandmother, a mother, and a friend, it was unconditional. She sacrificed a lot to take care of me, as I was a handful and she barely had the energy to keep up with me. But somehow, she did. Not only did Mom-mom manage to keep pace with me, but my friends too. She made Monday Night Pasta a tradition at our house and it was an open invitation for any of my friends to come over for dinner. Mom-mom cared for all of my friends, especially Jane who she loved to hate. Mom-mom would always says that Jane caused her blood pressure to rise, and one year she gave Jane coal for Christmas! Regardless, Mom-mom still took the time to teach Jane and I how to make her secret recipe spaghetti sauce and meatballs. Mom-mom blessed us with her legacy by writing her memoir and creating a recipe book for us. Did you know, she wanted to leave secret ingredients out of her recipe book?! She said the secrets should never be written down.

Mom-mom always wanted everything her way and loved to complain. If you were planning on buying Mom-mom a gift, you needed to prepare yourself for her reaction. When I came to Korea, she specifically asked me to buy her an umbrella, preferably a black or red one with writing on it. I thought I nailed it buying her a decorative umbrella that was exactly as she requested, black, white, and red, with Japanese calligraphy. The only thing that didn’t match Mom-mom’s request was that it was decorative instead of functional, but Mom-mom never goes for walks in the rain so I thought it was a good compromise. I showed it to her on FaceTime and received exactly the reaction that I was expecting, she hated it! “What’s the point of a decorative umbrella?” she asked me, making us both laugh. 

When you were with Mom-mom, you could always expect to have a good laugh. She told the craziest stories and would make some outrageous comments! She wasn’t afraid to share her opinion, especially if she didn’t agree with you. I have shared many phone calls, emails, letters, and chats with Mom-mom and I will forever cherish her advice. I am so thankful to have been able to develop such a close relationship with Mom-mom, she truly was one of my best friends.