Thursday, January 7, 2010

Son of a B----?




As I type this, 35 years ago I would’ve been 15 minutes old. The doctors would’ve been cleaning me up and the nurses would be hovering over me doing their job. Soon I will be brought to my mother all wrapped up and she probably held me and looked at me lovingly… perhaps, I don’t know, I don’t remember.

What I do know is that after 35 years I still don’t know the woman, I’ve never had a face to face encounter with her that I can recall and I’ve never ever received a birthday card, phone call or even a post card saying I’m here in so and so having a great life without you.

Anyway this is my journal entry as it was written in its purest, uncut, unadulterated form. In it you will find crass, rude and perhaps very offensive albeit censored language, however you will also find the truth and the inner thoughts of a man who has come to terms with and is at peace with his past circumstance.

Looking back I can only say that it was probably fueled by the pent up anger I had inside at being so far away from my family so close to the holiday season and being angry that I couldn’t come home then for fear of being penalized the next tax season thereby negating the whole reason for going overseas in the first place. In short I felt trapped and that made me a bit perturbed:


11-13-09 9:56 pm

Thought I’d start a new blog entry called, “Son of a -----.” A title that came to me when thinking of my mother (incubator) and how even after 35 years no word or even a letter. I wonder if she even thinks of me. What of my birthday… does she remember? Does she think about that day? How could someone walk out on a child like that? Questions that arise are, “was I that undesirable? Was I an ugly or a mean child, did I have some unredeemable characteristic about me?"

I have heard that when asked if she kept in contact with us (my sister and I) she made a statement to the effect of, “I don’t have any other children” or “I have my real children.”

What did I do to garner such treatment, such rejection? In what ways did I not measure up as an ideal son?  Did I stink?

When I was young I didn’t think about it much. Perhaps it was because I had so many other things to worry about or maybe it was some kind of defense mechanism. As an adult I’m pissed off because I feel cheated, I feel short changed, I feel that in a lot of ways her desertion has handicapped me. For this cause she is a b****, in the worst sense of the word. For this cause I despise what she has done, for how she f***** me up and left me to fend for myself. For not protecting me from all the sh**** things that happened and for giving that motherly love and affection to another family and starving me of it.

Maybe I become aware of it when I see movies that portray women who would go to the ends of the earth to fight for their children and how I longed for that and how wearying it was to be my own comforter.

The darkest part of me wants to spit in her face and scream, “F*** YOU Chong Cha Kong!!!!”... but then the emotional storm settles and the dust clears as I see the faces of my son and daughter and my wife (who’s love and steadfastness has been a ballast for us during the worst of times) and I wonder, “what if…?”

…what if the ***** had aborted me?

…or

…what if she had been in my life and been that loving mother to me? Would I have been in Veterans Memorial Park that Friday night (which as it turns out was the Friday prior to
Mothers Day that Sunday… as I hear Alanis Morrisette singing in my mind… “Isn’t it ironic…”) in the month of May to hear the hope of the gospel? Would I have even felt the need to respond? I certainly wouldn’t have met my wife in the church and I would not have had the pleasure of raising my beloved son and my beautiful daughter nor would I have been privileged enough to hear any one of them spontaneously say with the heartfelt sincerity that they do, “daddy/honey, I love you.” Would I even have the privilege to know the love, redemption and forgiveness of a Savior who measures the heavens in a span and holds the waters in the hollow of His hand?

Because of this I had to reexamine my view of Ms. Kong and at least be grateful that she carried me to full term, delivered me and then stepped out of the way.

I don’t know what all went down for her to cut us loose all those years ago, I don’t have that perspective but the question that still lingers is… will I ever get to know her? I don’t know and I doubt that she has another 35 years left to wait, however I am here and will be here… where are you “mom”?

5 comments:

  1. Hello Ken,
    What a great post. Overall, it reminds me that it is not how we start, but how we finish. I am also think of the scripture: THEREFORE THEN, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12:1 Amplified.

    We have to keep going. It is hard though when you strive to be a great parent, but have no clue what that looks like because you never had it.

    All in all, I am glad that God is our Everything. Where she might have left you, God stepped in and filled every gap and every missing element. The nurting love that you receive from your wife and kids. The love of a Joseph sister, other siblings and friends.

    As I ponder your question, I am mindful of the scripture in Romans 8:28- And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. I know that you love God and I know that you are called according to His purpose. I speak life to that purpose right now in Jesus name! I pray that He stirs it up in you strongly that you will have NO doubt who you belong to and why!

    Blessings my brother and Happy Birthday! Although your family does not look like you think it should, it is complete!

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  2. Imagine the ability to know what could have been. I don't know necessarily whether or not it would be helpful or disturbing to a person, but I believe that forever we will have questions. The "WHY'S" and the "What if's..." will continually pop into our minds, and either subtle or bombarded, they will come.

    Such honesty made me mirror that in my life. Cheated is the word you used. I remember the embarrassment in elementary when fathers would come in, and I stood alone. Baseball practice was filled with fathers teaching thier sons the basics to the game, imparting simple life values along the way. I am grateful for a mother who did her level best to compensate for any thing that lacked in my life, and I owe alot to her.

    But this lack of a father, lack of a relationship as I grew I hid forever. Deep down I dismissed a need to ever ask these questions or confront them. However, as an adult, they seem to be more crucial of an issue. I have not been around my father enough to really know him, but I think a certain way, and I want to know why? I don't want to be him, because of the hurt that he inflicted. I don't want to be the source of a pain and the disappointment of one's life. I don't want to run when things get hard, or fail to be called on when need. But I am part of him......and what characteristics did I recieve from him?

    I guess when the pressure of life is really on my shoulders, I stare into the mirror, and wonder who am I supposed to be? What should I do? In those moments, I feel cheated. Not angry, not sad, just cheated. I don't cry because I didn't lose anything. Don't you dare feel sorry for me either, because its not sympathy that I desire or want.

    Again, these questions come and go. They don't in any way dictate my life. I have found an identity through Jesus Christ. When I read this, it made me confront something I have hidden for years. I would not change anything in my life, and to be quite honest, I have one of the best life a person could ask for. But sometimes.....I just wonder.

    Thank you for sincerity and transparency in your writing. Truly thought provoking and touching.

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    Replies
    1. "Thank you for sincerity and transparency in your writing. Truly thought provoking and touching."

      As is your comment here, Jesse! It all reminds me how important my presence as a mother is to my children - as imperfect as I am; to love their father; to not give up in these teen years when they need me most; and that even as adults - we still need our parents presence.

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  3. This is a beautiful heart felt post. I don't think you could have been more insightful as to why events unfold as they do in our lives.

    I know all of the horrors I endured led me to my daughter nad husband and to the many friends I have. I always say friends are the family you pick.

    I am glad you found comfort in your family that you have now and may not have without the course of your life being led by events you can't answer now. All you can do is let go and let God! And if she is supposed to be a part of your life he will bring her to you!

    Blessings,
    Deanne

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  4. Just browsing and re-reading some of your posts. I had no idea when I first read this in 2010, that shortly thereafter I would have some of the same questions and could relate to some of those feelings of rejection. And what if? What if you weren't in our lives, loving my sister and what if our kids didn't have one another? Our family would have a hole! I'm so thankful for salvation and grace and how God has knit our family into what it is, using the pieces (or ugly circumstances) we thought were unusable.

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