월드미션프론티어

Twenty-six years ago I followed my heart. The events from those days seem to be from a distant planet.

Following our hearts, we both lost our jobs. I was a 23-year old Peace Corps Volunteer teaching in middle school. Miss Kim was 22 years old and in her first year of teaching at a neighboring school. At first, I invited her to study English with me in a tea room. The pretense of English lessons only lasted a few days. Study was soon replaced with flirting, talking and laughing. As I look back, I marvel at how the two of us could enjoy so many hours in such a little tea room. Word got back to her school that Miss Kim was dating an American. Her principal forced her to sign a letter of resignation. Miss Kim returned to Seoul. I requested that the Peace Corps find me a position in Seoul so that I could join her. But this was not possible and I too left my job and moved to Seoul.

Following our hearts, we went against the advice of everyone we knew. Miss Kim's eleven college friends told her not to marry this "big nose American guy". Her mother and sisters were shocked at first, but finally accepting. My buddies in the Peace Corps warned against the marriage. When we went to the American Embassy to apply for a license, we had to endure a lecture telling us that American boys should not marry Korean girls. We came from different cultures and only knew each other for three months. The odds were stacked against success in our marriage.

Following our hearts, we were married in a small Seoul church on March 23rd, 1974. Twenty-six later, her wedding gown and my gray suit still hang side-by-side in our attic. Our two sons are out in the world and pursuing their dreams.

Do I have some regrets in life? Certainly. Have there been disappointments? Too many to name. But I'm glad that long ago I lost my job, ignored the advice of friends and followed my heart.

Tonight my wife is away from home working at college. I see a full March moon outside my office window. As I write these old memories, I recall this poem of CHUNG CHUL and dedicate it to my Miss Kim:

"I'd like to carve a moon
Out of my heart

And hang it ninety thousand miles

High in the sky

So it would shine on the place

Where my love is tonight."?