In this excerpt of this is for mẹ, MyLinh Truong steps back in time, into her mother’s shoes, and carries us across countries, oceans, generations and lived identities to help us remember.
Inspired by Ocean’s Vuong’s letter to his mother in the New York Times, this is for mẹ lives online as a borderless mailbox for Asian identified people to share stories rooted in mothers, motherhood, motherlands, mother-tongues and family.
With Love I Rise
I was only a child when the war began
Just six years old when they came for a “meeting”
I saw Ma tremble as Ba ran to hide
He squeezed behind the armoire, “Hush, my child”
The space was so narrow, “Don’t say a word”
Something was wrong, I’d never seen him there before
“he’s not here” I watched her scream
The men barged in and she began to plead
I pressed my back against the wall
Fearful and confused, I became so small
thumping, yelling, banging,
hitting, throwing, breaking,
The men were so angry and we started to cry
It was my Ba they wanted but I didn’t know why
Ma looked terrified when Ba ran to hide
I’d never seen such fear in my parents’ eyes
“Here he is, I got him, I got him!”
I clung to his shirt, and Ma hung on his arm
As they forced him out the door
Ma fell to the floor
“Where do you go? Ba when will you be home?”
I should have kissed him, had I known
I wished Ma never opened the door
I wished to hug him just once more.
Yesterday I had everything
Today I was starving
Home twice a month, Ma left for weeks,
She’d go to the city because we ran out of money
Brothers ran off to a life of their own
I became an adult at just six years old
The house became empty, except for my pig pen
I only had my animals so I really loved them
I became a child of church and discovered singing
Performing in plays and programs every week
The boys started to follow and wanted to be friends
But only one knew how to make me fall for him
We were so young when we fell in love
Just eighteen when love was enough
The war was over now, but the country dry
Devastated from the ruins of a brutal fight
Right away we had a baby that we couldn’t afford
But we wouldn’t survive the aftermath of war
When it was time, with just the clothes on our backs
Twelve of us fled into the night pitch black
Baby in my arms and gas tanks in his
The journey was long but we had no choice
At every loud explosion, we dropped to the earth
The soil was cold but to be caught would be worse
We’d wait until silence to begin again
Sneaking through the night towards the beginning or the end
Would we make it to America? We couldn’t know
Though so many had fallen – we still prayed with hope
After days of drifting, we could no longer see
Which way was fatal and which was safety
The storm created hurricanes that turned our boat
I couldn’t make milk and my baby was cold
Pirates came by, and then there were ten
Before another sweep, we were rescued to Hainan
We were sent to work factories in Hong Kong
Then sponsored to Kansas after 6 months too long
Finally made it, to the land of the free
Now we labored for the American dream
Life wasn’t easy, but it was better than before
English was hard, but worse, to be so poor
The jobs were painful and the wage was cheap
But it just didn’t matter as long as we could eat
My second baby came and then the third
I was home alone each time, so I cut each cord
Then an answered prayer: my baby girl
And two more completed my world
Could you ever know life to be like this?
Only age 30, with six young kids
Now 39 years later we have 8 additions
We’ve built a dream come true, that I never envisioned
I was never taught to be a wife, a mother or a friend
Because the hardest times didn’t break me, I learned
Now I know I was never perfect but I always did my best
And despite every breakdown, I refused to stay a mess
So to summarize, the greatest lesson of it all
No excuses, I will always rise after every fall
Remember, I had everything until I had nothing
And because I had nothing, I now have everything.
—
MyLinh Truong is a Vietnamese American entrepreneur and humanitarian, who believes in social impact through her work as Professional Beauty/Lash Educator, Salon Owner (Eyelysian Beauty Studio) and Yoga Instructor.
Raised in an underprivileged immigrant family, MyLinh learned at a young age how to leverage limitations to master life opportunities. She is the fourth University of Washington graduate in her family, and participates in non-profit organizations and social clubs focused on creative writing, social and economic inequities, anti-human trafficking and women entrepreneurship.
It’s been a dream to give back to children in Vietnam/Cambodia, and MyLinh takes on any opportunity to serve in a way that makes a difference.