The depth of love between the siblings, something I will NEVER have!!! Translated…
I’d picked up a book I bought in my teenage years, and as I was flipping through it, a yellowed piece of paper fell out. I’d opened up the page carefully, and, what entered into my eyes was, that neat, that amazing handwriting, the receiver of the letter was “My Sister, Chun-Ju” with “Your Older Brother, Yo-Ji”, the date was 1977.08.03, this was from my older brother, from forty years ago. I’d taken a shot of it, and sent it to my older brother using LINE, he’d replied, “You’d kept it for so long!”
Back then, my path of education took a sharp turn, I’d felt unstable and unsettled. I’d received a letter from my older brother from school that had, “Didn’t you read the book, ‘The Boat in the Seas’? Didn’t it tell you NOT to fear the changes, to NOT feel defeated. The storm that’s at hand is incomparable to the strength you have, keep marching onward! You will, find that piece of sky that belonged to, only just you………”
Actually, before this letter, being just a year apart, we’d, gotten on one another’s every last nerves, because he was my parents’ favorite son, and in the sixties, where everything is bad, of the four of us, only my older brother got to go to kindergarten, and he’d also had his own desk, along with his test prep volumes too. I was, so totally, jealous, and so, I’d intentionally, hidden his school supplies, and once he’d found out, we’d, gotten into serious fights. And, I’d put some water on my face, to fake them as tears, and tattled to dad on him, and, he’d always, gotten yelled at bad.
illustration from the papers online…
My older brother with great artistic skills followed my parents’ order, and studied at the electronics department of the technical high school programs, he’d often looked very unhappy, and I’d felt bad for him. Thinking back, this letter, it was, probably, a pep talk to himself! No wonder every time he came home, he’d asked me what books I’d read recently.
After my older brother graduated, he’d started serving his army service terms in Kinmen, my parents couldn’t feel at ease, and had me write him every single day. But, all mom and dad said was, “remember to dress warmly, and eat more”, and one day, I’d started, writing in everything that’s happened in our lives, and everything I’d gained from my own living experiences, and that letter was, four, five pages long.
Later, as the counselor in his base, responsible for checking the letters from home noticed my weird letter, and wanted to meet me, and he’d become, my husband in the end. My brother always told his army counselor/brother-in-law, “I am your matchmaker, don’t you forget it now!” After we wed, my older brother cared a lot if I was being well taken care of, he’d told me, “after all, you two met because of me, so of course I care if he’s treating you well or not.”
One year I fell ill and went under the knife, he’d called me up to ask if I’d gone to the bathrooms yet, I was so annoyed, and asked him, “Why do you always ask me that?” on the other end of the line, came his serious tone of voice, “The wound from your surgery might not be able to withstand the force you used to go to the bathrooms!”, and after that, I’d understood, that he truly, really, cared for me.
and, time flew quick, we’d gone from our youthful days, into our sixties now, and this, lightweight, thin page of note, opened up by me once more, I’d, felt his love for me, like it was, yesterday.
And so, this brother and sister pair are really, well connected, because even as they were younger and fought over things, they still cared for one another, this woman’s brother showed her the love, the care, and concerns, and that, is why even now, they’re, still, very close to one another.
Life, the Obstacle Course 