Buying a Heart

"Vân, Vân!"
A tense hand gripped my arm.

We were taking an evening walk in the neighborhood.
"Did you see that guy?" I nodded slightly.
"Whew!!! He just came out of nowhere!" Sr. Leslie Thu's grasp loosened slightly.

"Thu... you are going to bruise me purple while that guy that scared you is going to be 100 miles from here," I teased her.
"Oh... I am so sorry... how did you know he was there?... that was so scary! No wonder the sisters say you are a good person to take anywhere unfamiliar!"

Sr. Thu continued her story and my mind quietly went back to the time when I was a 12-year-old girl.

"Dad?!?" I exclaimed.
I had startled myself by suddenly coming upon the still figure.
"You didn't see me?" he asked, continuing to weed the flower bed.
Dad had an innate green thumb and the garden was full of exotic plants that others had thrown away.

"No!... no..." I stammered. I had just gotten back from an outing with a friend, my mind still on our conversation.
"Always be alert. Although it is your own house. This is the best kind of safety... especially now that you are a lady," he added gently.
A rose petal shimmered in the afternoon sun.

Dad was an army man.
My siblings and I weren't quite sure how to understand him.

He said Starbucks was a waste of money.
That was where we met our friends.

He drove his Toyota until it was considered an antique by the state of California and he was exempt from paying for the annual inspection.
We couldn't wait until we got our own SUVs.

Our house was plain, with no paintings or decor.
We admired our cousins' glass cabinets, full of extravagant knick-knacks.

We said Dad was a hard man.
We knew Dad had a huge heart.
We got the proof last summer.

Dad and Mom bought tickets to the Franciscan Charity Fundraiser Dinner.
As 300 others in the Sacramento area.
Father Hoàng, OFM, the organization's head, was looking for donors.

Persons willing to buy a heart.
For $3,000.
For orphaned children needing heart surgery in Vietnam.

My parents looked at each other.
"We have lost a heart," my dad whispered. My mom knew he was referring to one of my brothers whose life is less than mentionable.

We were ready to give him up as a hopeless cause.
Dad asked that we still invite him to all our family functions.
We acquiesced out of respect for Dad.

"Let us save a heart because we failed to save what was ours. Perhaps God will have mercy," he continued. My mom nodded.

The photo of Thúy Vi, age 8, is in a conspicuous corner of their bedroom dresser.
She received her surgery three days after my parents sent the money.
The other adornment to the room is our family photo.

My dad taught me to be alert and secure from danger with his words.
He showed us how to be frugal with his lifestyle.
He imprinted in our soul what it means to be a person.

One who forgives.
One who has faith.
One who has heart.

ps. Photo of Dad's front yard: Silver dollar tree in the foreground and 9 leaping hinds he fashioned from wire and ivy. He hasn't trimmed them yet so they look like rabbits. There was nine of us in the family. Emma and Xavier is looking on the one that represented their dad, Ocean.
ps2. Franciscan Charity
http://www.hoibacaiphanxico.org/us/about-us.htm

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life with Ashes

Image
It was time to move. Goodbye to Allen Parkway and hello to Florin Wood. Our family was moving from Houston to Sacramento. This was over 20 years ago and the day comes back with ashes. And a smell. My dad had piled all our old clothes, furniture, and knick knacks into a huge heap in front of our yard. He poured gasoline generously and lighted it with a smile. My mom looked on regretfully. All seven of us kids were delighted with the dancing flames. The neighbors didn't care. We lived in what they called the ghetto part of the world and since we were not shooting at anyone, we were okay. "We're starting a new life," my dad reassured mom as our van entered the highway. "No need to hang on the old stuff." "It was pretty dinky, wasn't it?" my mom replied hesitantly. Our years in Houston were our first years living in the United States, far away from the land of our origin, Vietnam. What dad burnt was the few possessions we accumulated fro
Read more

Teddy Bear

Image
"Dear God, I love you so much, I want to give you everything. You can have my Mom, my Dad, my sister, my teddy bear. No, I take it back. You can have everyone, but I want to keep my teddy bear." Love, Little Boy. Fr. Roch hardly lost a beat in his lecture of sin as he told his joke. Sin is putting ourselves above God. Not willing to let go. In actuality, God never wants everything. He just wants the teddy bear. What we think is necessary. Photo source: www.funkyfriendsfactory.com
Read more

Bingo!

Image
Sisters at Salerno's Artichoke Lucia.  Baked with Italian cheeses and breadcrumbs. Grilled fillet salmon on a bed of blanched spinach and mushrooms, topped with pine nuts. 8oz. marinated and charbroiled steak topped with sauteed mushrooms; served over linguine. Saturday night at Salerno's. It was time to "open community." Every year we choose a venue to celebrate the beginning of our time together as a religious community.  This year the venue chose us. "Bingo!" An almost audible gasp escaped from the surrounding tables. Sr. Leslie Thu at our table had won another bingo game. A Knight of Columbus member handed her a sealed envelope. Her eyebrows arched in delight. It was a $50 Walmart gift card. We cleared our cards and another round started. It was the Knights of Columbus Sisters Appreciation Luncheon. It was on a early Sunday afternoon. They had sent the invitation two months ago. Sr. Jacinta Ngân had "highly encouraged"
Read more