{"id":486,"date":"2012-06-04T00:58:55","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T04:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/?p=486"},"modified":"2012-06-04T00:58:55","modified_gmt":"2012-06-04T04:58:55","slug":"i-didnt-leave-your-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sherryquanlee.com\/?p=486","title":{"rendered":"I DIDN’T LEAVE YOUR MOTHER"},"content":{"rendered":"

I DIDN\u2019T LEAVE YOUR MOTHER<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a difficult section of Love Imagined<\/em> to write because I have to imagine a father I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I was five when my mom and dad divorced.\u00a0 Dad would drive down the alley once a week, honk the car horn, and wait for one of the five of us to come out and get our child support!\u00a0 Other than that, I maybe saw my father a half dozen times, my children met him twice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fortunately, I have a copy of my father\u2019s handwritten journal and some photographs.\u00a0 What stories can I conjure from the few things I possess that are of my father?\u00a0 Who do I imagine him to be? And how does who I imagine him to be affect my life? \u00a0I know this much:<\/p>\n

My father had many names. His obituary reads William (Theun) Wing, age 85, born March 3, 1909 in Canton, China. <\/em><\/p>\n

His senior class year book, which contains art work of \u201cpan\u201d playing for \u201csatyrs\u201d, has his last name as \u201cQuon, Bill.\u201d\u00a0 At Santa Ana High School he played football,\u00a0 baseball, wrestling, and track.\u00a0 Friday, November 13, 1931 the Sanat Ana High School Generator states:\u00a0 \u201cAfter three years of searching, Coach (Abalone) Patton has found a head gear that will fit Billy Quon.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

In my father’s words:<\/em><\/p>\n

MY FIRST TEN YEARS OF MY LIFE WAS SPEND IN CHINA IN THE VILLAGE OF HAI PING.\u00a0 I WAS TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER TOO MUCH.\u00a0 THE VILLAGE WAS CONSIST OF ROW OF HOUSE\u2014EIGHT TO TEN IN A ROW RUN NORTH TO SOUTH.\u00a0 THERE WERE ABOUT TEN ROW.\u00a0 AT THE HEAD OF THE VILLAGE WAS A SCHOOL HOUSE.\u00a0 MY GRANDFATHER WAS THE PROFESSOR.\u00a0 NEXT TO THE SCHOOL HOUSE WAS A BIG STATUE OF A LION TO WATCH THE VILLAGE.\u00a0 ALONG THE ROW OF HOUSE WAS THE DRAIN THAT RUN INTO POND.\u00a0 I REMEMBER ONE DAY IT RAIN SO HEAVY YOU COULD SEE FISHES SWIMMING AT YOUR DOOR STEP.\u00a0 NOT FAR FROM THE VILLAGE WAS THE TOWN OF CHICK HOM WHICH WE GO ONCE A WEEK TO BUY FRESH MEAT.\u00a0 IT WAS SLAUGHTER IN FRONT OF YOUR EYE.\u00a0 MY GRANDFATHER OWN LOT OF LAND.\u00a0 EVERY SON HAS A PLAT OF LAND FOR RAISING VEGETABLE, ETC.\u00a0 I REMEMBER ONE TIME I WAS AT A POTATOES FARM.\u00a0 I SAW THERE WAS A BIG HOLE IN ONE ROW.\u00a0 I REACH IN AND PULL OUT A HANDFUL OF RATS.\u00a0 I ALSO REMEMBER MY MOTHER AND I WERE WALKING THE POND AND I FELL INTO THE POND, MY MOTHER GRIP ME BY THE HAIR AND PULL ME OUT.\u00a0 ONE LATE NITE WE SAW A GANG OF BANDIT RAIDING THE NEXT VILLAGE.\u00a0 IT WAS SCARY.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0MY FATHER PASSED AWAY WHEN I WAS SEVEN.\u00a0 WHEN MY UNCLE WAS HOME FROM UNITED STATES TO VISIT HIS FAMILY THEY DECIDED TO HAVE ME JOIN HIM WHEN HE RETURN TO THE STATE, I BEING THE OLDEST WAS THE HEAD OF FAMILY HAVE TO MAKE MONEY TO SUPORT THE FAMILY.\u00a0 I WAS ONLY TEN AT THE TIME.\u00a0 WHEN WE LEFT FOR U.SA. I LEFT MY MOTHER AND YOUNGER BROTHER AND SISTER.\u00a0 NEVER TO SEE THEM AGAIN.\u00a0 THE TRIP FROM THE VILLAGE TO HONG KWONG\u2014WAS ONE DAY.\u00a0 WHERE WE BOARD THE STEAM SHIP S.S. CHINA.\u00a0 IT TOOK US TWO WEEKS TO REACH THE STATES BY THE WAY OF HONOLULO AND SAN FRANCISCO.\u00a0 WE STAY IN SAN FRANCISCO ABOUT A MONTH AND THEN WE HEADED FOR LOS ANGELES WHERE MY UNCLE HAD A JOB WAITING FOR HIM.\u00a0 HE WAS A COOK AND A VERY GOOD ONE.\u00a0 WHILE IN LOS ANGELES I STAYED AT MY RELATIVE WHO OWN A CHINESE HERB STORE.\u00a0 MY UNCLE\u2019S JOB WAS AT A SMALL TOWN FROM L.A.\u00a0 HE WAS ALWAYS WORKING\u2014SO I NEVER GET TO SEE HIM TOO MUCH.\u00a0 I WAS AT MY OWN FOR A ELEVEN YEARS BOY.\u00a0 I LEARN MY ENGLISH AT A SMALL MISSIONARY SCHOOL.\u00a0 THE ONLY TIME I HAD TROUBLE-WITH UNCLE-WAS I WENT TO A MOVIE AND STAY AND SAW THE MOVIE THREE TIMES.\u00a0 IT WAS A COWGIRL PICTURE.<\/em><\/p>\n

I am not artistic or athletic like my father, and I haven\u2019t had much stability in my life as far as home or work or relationships. But, perhaps I have the need and perseverance to have and do all the right things, even though I, like my father before me, according to a particular resource, \u201cdon\u2019t have a pot to piss in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the real discovery, the aha of making sense of my life is finally just accepting I am me, and others can accept \u201cme\u201d or not\u2014I don\u2019t, as someone recently said to me, need to wear my identity on my sleeve. Do I do that? And doesn’t this seem all to easy? It’s not.<\/p>\n

Sherry Quan Lee<\/p>\n

June 3, 2012<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Comments welcome!<\/p>\n

Find Sherry Quan Lee on Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*date on photo is likely the date the photo was reprinted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I DIDN\u2019T LEAVE YOUR MOTHER This is a difficult section of Love Imagined to write because I have to imagine a father I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I was five when my mom and dad divorced.\u00a0 Dad would drive down the alley once a week, honk the car horn, and wait for …<\/p>\n

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