Category: vietnam

According to my mom, my dad married two women on the same night.  One of them was my mom, the other was his real love.  This my mom told me, and of course I didn’t fully believe her.  That’s so crazy, like something out of a television drama! (old family pic with youngest aunt, mom…

< read part 3 There’s even more craziness to how this story ends.  Being the only daughter he had, Nga’s father had given her an ultimatum after the wedding.  She’d be excommunicated from the family if she didn’t leave my dad.  So that particular night when she was visiting them, she made her decision, took…

< read part 2 But my mom noticed a strange woman at the wedding that tagged along all through out the day.  She had a gloom about her, and was always a step behind, looking sad and forlorn.  She even fought her way to sit in the front seat of the wedding car.  Who is this…

< read part 1 At the same time, my mom’s granddad had developed a close relationship with my dad.  They were great friends, and my dad reminded him of his lost son who had died years earlier.  There were also other reasons my mom explained involving the compatibility of our last names and such, but…

Vinny and I caused a lot of trouble when we were kids.  I mean, we weren’t spoiled brats or anything.  We were obedient, respectful of our elders, and fairly good kids, considering.  But man, we were curious and active and got into everything! Case in point, here’s a memory I have of one of our…

I’ve always wanted to hear the story of how my uncle came to America, because without him, the rest of our family wouldn’t be here.  One day I decided to give him an interview about his trip from Vietnam to the U.S.  It is such an amazing story, and I’m glad I had the opportunity…

When my dad married my mom, he was 39 and she was 21.   When they were young, my mom’s granddad loved my dad like a son.  One day, he asked my dad to pick one of his oldest three granddaughters to be his wife.  My mom was granddaughter number 3, and he picked her.…