Meeting My Korean Aunt, Part I

An exclusive, 2-part Memoir Excerpt, exploring the day I met my Gomo

Please enjoy the following: Part 1 of 2 of an excerpt from my future memoir, exclusive to paid subscribers of my newsletter. An audio recording of this essay can be found at the end. Thank you for your support.

Stepping onto the platform from the train, my chin naturally tilted toward the light.

The air felt clear in a way that it never does in Seoul. Later, Melissa would describe her day of trudging up the impossibly steep sidewalks of Incheon in the pouring rain.

A 2+ hour train ride away in Mokpo, it was dry, hot, and sunny.

I turned right to follow the exit signs. This time, I knew where to go.

Scanning the people’s faces to look for the dark skin framing my Appa's eyes, I heard a small, delighted squeal come out of nowhere before delicate, strong arms embraced me. Once again, before I had a chance to acclimate myself, SooJin had found me. We held each other close. In the quickness, I caught the black hair running down her back, my fingers instinctively curled around a handful. I could pluck a strand from her head and sew, each was so thick and straight. Real Asian Hair, I mused. There was an impulse to hold on to any part of her that I could, for as long as I could.

Overcome with emotion, I pulled away reluctantly and looked directly into her eyes, the same depth of dark charcoal as mine, hoping she would see the smile above my mask and feel what I was feeling.

I thought of our first messages only months before, early in the morning or late at night, exchanged by two strangers who welcomed each other without question. Siblings are the true gift, I remember another adoptee saying.

My sister, spring 2024 on a Jeju Island visit

A breath escaped my lungs that I didn’t know I had been holding until I felt her arms around me. I felt relieved she was there. It was a day earlier than she’d originally planned to join me in Mokpo.

Like last time, without a word and in a single, fluid motion, SooJin grabbed my suitcase and began to walk swiftly toward the exit, holding tight to a cell phone in her other hand.