History 1

This is one of my very favorite photographs; it sits on top of our television unit with some of our other treasured pictures. The bundled baby is my mom, only a few months old. The boys are her older brothers; her little sister and younger brother had not yet been born. The year was 1945, and Mom was only a few months old. 

About three years after this photo was taken, the family was forced to flee from Guangdong province in southern China to Taiwan. The Communist Party had defeated the Nationalist party, for whom my grandfather fought. My mom's family and several other families had to huddle together on a boat for a short but treacherous journey to Taiwan. There were too many people and not enough room. Mom, who was three years old at that time, was so sick and cold that she cried the entire trip. At the top of her lungs. The folks on the boat, equally cold, tired and fed up, threatened to have a group vote to throw the crying toddler overboard so they could have some peace. 

 

Thankfully, Mom got to stay on the boat instead of becoming fish food, and they eventually reached Taiwan, safe and sound. They were able to re-make their life on the island, where Mom eventually met Dad. Despite the fact that Dad is 10 years older than Mom, he also grew up in China and fled to Taiwan during the very same year. His story is especially unique but since I like to keep my blogs relatively short, I'll talk about Dad in a later posting.

To the folks who were on the boat with my mom -- thank you for putting up with her and not insisting that she got thrown overboard. And--ummm...really? What were you thinking?

To my late grandma and grandpa who saw to it that their kids would stay safe and sound, I wish you were still around to tell me all of the incredible stories. And thank you for all that you've done.