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Dedicated
with love to
이 학근 (Hakkun E)
who discovered
the princess
While most girls her age were in their last year of middle school preparing for the exciting move to high school, Soon E was beginning her sewing career in a large, cold factory heated only by two wood stoves; both far away from the sewing machines. It got so cold during their 12-hour workday that ice would actually form on the girls' feet. But Soon E was grateful to have the job which meant that her younger brother could stay in school.
On her walk home from work she would pass a Korean bakery and fantasize about buying one of the cookies on payday. But on payday she would continue past the bakery without stopping knowing how much her mother needed the small paycheck that was safely tucked into one of her pockets.
Soon E and I met for the first time on January 30th, 1987 at about 5:00 pm Korean time. Because Korean time is 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, It was 3:00 am January 30th back in Boston.
The only thing I knew about Soon E was that she was the mother of the three girls my second wife, Donna, and I had come to Korea to meet and take back to Massachusetts for adoption. The only thing Soon E knew about me was that I was the adoptive father.
As Donna and I approached the waiting area of Kimpo International Airport in Seoul, Korea, after having cleared immigration, we saw Father Ben, the three girls that we had only seen in a few small pictures, and several women. One of the girls ran to me and gave me a hug. Father Ben reached out to shake our hands and, to our shock, introduced one of the women as the girls' mother. We had never expected to meet her. It would have been much easier just to take the girls and not be reminded that they were leaving behind the anguished person who gave birth to them.
Donna, the three girls, and I left Korea at about 4:00 pm on February 4th, 1987, it was the night of December 10th, 1990 when Soon E and I next saw each other; this time at Logan International Airport in Boston. |
