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There would have been no "Soon E and Ed" without my friend Chang. And it I could have my wish it would be to have Chang and Myong here for dinner and a movie tonight with Soon E and me.
Sometime after 2000, one of Soon E's friends told her that Chang had died while hospitalized. We had not heard from him in many years.
Donna and I met Chang and his wife Myong at the Andover Korean Church in 1986. We had started attending the church in order to try to learn something about the Korean culture in anticipation of adopting a Korean child.
On our first Sunday at the church, Rev. Kim had introduced us to Chang and Myong. Chang was a thoroughly Americanized Korean who had been accidentally separated from his parents when he was about five years old, managed to survive by hanging around American military camps, was sent to the U.S. for an education by missionaries, and who had made a reasonably successful life here.
He managed to retain his ability to understand and speak Korean though he was never learned to read and write Korean. He married an American woman and they had a son. To Chang's dismay, the marriage didn't last.
After his divorce, he met and married Myong, a Korean woman.
Chang spoke impeccable English, was totally at home in both the American and Korean cultures, made friends in high places with leaders in the Asian community and American political leaders such as Governor Michael Dukakis. He lived with his family in Andover, MA, worked in social services in Boston, and at night and on the weekends worked tirelessly to help Korean immigrants navigate their way through a totally new and confusing way of life.
His wife Myong was always there to help him through terrible physical ailments with his legs which made it difficult for him to get around and often resulted in great pain. He and Myong had two beautiful and highly intelligent daughters of whom he was very proud. And he would often have his son come over on Sundays to spend time with the family.
I was privileged for several years to have Chang as one of my closest friends, be welcomed into his home by his family, and called "Uncle Ed" by his two extraordinary daughters.
As I indicated above, the only reason that Soon E and I are together is Chang. Somewhere along the way, shortly after Chang helped to get Soon E here, something went awry and our relationship was never the same again.
Chang died in a hospital in Massachusetts several years ago and I only learned of his final sickness after his death and never had a chance to tell him how much I loved him and how much I valued what he did for Soon E and me. I hope that reliving some of those days in this book will help me to understand more clearly what happened and bring me some degree of closure.
Rest in peace, my friend. |
