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Around noon on Monday, December 10th, 1990 Soon E boarded a flight in Kimpo Airport outside of Seoul, Korea bound for San Francisco where she was to catch a connecting flight to Detroit and then to Boston; arriving about 5:00 pm Monday afternoon. Because of the 14-hour time difference between Seoul and Boston, it was 10:00 pm on Sunday, Boston time, when Soon E left. It would be 23 hours until she was in Boston.
Immigration processing in San Francisco caused her to miss the flight to Detroit. She was able to schedule a later flight direct to Boston for arrival at about 9 pm on Monday night. Soon E called Chang from the San Francisco airport to let him know that she would be late. And Chang called me to let me know.
At about 8:00 pm, I drove over to Chang's, a little over a mile from the condo. Myong was preparing a traditional Korean meal which would be ready when we returned from the airport.
Chang and I drove to Logan Airport in East Boston; less than 30 miles (via Interstate 93) from his house. At that time of night there is generally very little traffic. In less than half an hour we were parked in a short-term parking area across from the terminal where Soon E would arrive.
I was unbelievably excited about Mrs. Im's arrival. (Whenever I thought about or spoke about her I always referred to her as Mrs. Im. After all, she was the mother of my daughters and I felt I owed her a high degree of respect.) I really hoped that we would connect but there was no way of knowing what would happen. I had a slight, nagging concern that maybe she smoked and/or drank a lot. That was the only possible downside I could think of.
Chang and I went straight to the gate where she was to arrive. I spotted her immediately. I had only seen her several short times in Korea but I knew it was her. An instant after I saw her, Chang saw her. Not surprisingly she looked very tired.
Chang and I greeted her and we all went down to the baggage area to get her bags. She and Chang talked in Korean. I took her bags to the car which was nearby. As we got to the car, I told Chang that she looked a lot like Mimi (her middle daughter). Later, Chang's wife, Myong, said the same thing.
I wondered it she'd be upset that the girls weren't at the airport to meet her but she didn't seem to be. She and Chang talked in Korean on the way home and she laughed a lot.
She told Chang that she couldn't eat the food on the plane. (Only American food was served on the flight). Her feelings about food haven't changed over the last 18 years. She still rarely eats American food even though she quickly learned to cook both American (including Southern) and Italian dishes that I like.
She told Chang that she spent the whole trip looking out the window. When the plane landed in San Francisco, her feet were so swollen that she couldn't get her shoes on. She had to walk in to the gate barefooted. And she had to massage her feet for a half hour before she could get her shoes back on.
The day before she left, she took the more than one hour trip to the cemetery where her husband, Hakkun (the father of their three daughters), is buried. She told him that she was going to American to see their daughters. Twelve years later I would go back to Korea with Soon E and go to Hakkun's grave for a memorial service. Click here for a photo essay on the service.
The drive back to Chang's house again went very quickly as the traffic was still very light.
An entry in my computer diary for the evening reads:
I was in love by the time we got to Chang's house. |
