Promise Kept.
It’s been nearly four years since my father’s passing, but I still burn with tears behind closed doors indulging in his memory. I have to remind myself over and over again that people aren’t ours to keep. And that it’s natural for us to miss and love those more who leave us.
Numerous people have assured me that unrelenting heartaches would fade over time but for me, it has only intensified. As a hopeful person, I can get through the rough days. It’s the way they accumulate—the weight of his absence—that crushes me. I am always missing him and hoping that he misses me too.
In celebration of my father’s life and to keep a promise that I had made with him, I organized a crowd-funding campaign in 2016 to invite a nine-member theater troupe called maro from the Jeju Island of South Korea to Seattle to perform a cathartic production that would resonate with people who have ever lost something or someone dear in their lives. More than anything else, I wanted to create beauty out of sadness and instill hope.
Grief will always be a part of me, but it has given me a greater life purpose to create more joy, light, and inspiration in my little sphere. Thank you to all who have shown me care and love when I downward-spiraled into sadness and lost my way. Also, I send my deepest love and gratitude to all who believed in my vision of transforming grief into resilience through an artistic production. I couldn’t have done it without your support and for that, I’ll eternally be grateful.
“If we lived forever, there would be no such things as courage.”
—Native American saying
I miss you, Papa.
By Min Moon [Originally Posted on OhMin!]