journaling: My grandmother is one of the most amazing women I have ever met. She stands just four feet, ten inches tall, but there is nothing small about her.

She grew up in North Korea. Her parents were simple farmers, and they grew up without much. She married at the age of 16 to a man she had never met. It was an arranged marriage to a wealthy young suitor in another village. My grandmother said that she could tell that the family was wealthy when the walked up to their house on her wedding day because it had so many windows.

She had three children, all daughters. Her husband worked at a local university and was politically active. When the Chinese invaded North Korea, it was devastating to the family. One day, my grandfather came home and told my grandmother that they were leaving North Korea that night and she should get herself and the children ready to go.

They could tell no one. They could take nothing. They walked away from everything that night and never looked back. It took them three days, travelling by boat at night to reach South Korea. They were almost caught many times, and on the second night out, my aunt, the youngest girl would not stop crying. The other passengers threatened to throw her into the sea, but my grandmother stood her ground and told them only over her dead body. Luckily, my grandmother prevailed.

Shortly after arriving in South Korea, my grandfather was killed. my grandmother was left, a lone woman, in a new land, with three daughters. She took a job cleaning houses to make ends meet, and she did all that she could to see that her children had the best life that they could.

She sent them to live in a little house, the three girls while she went to a different city to work. The girls went to school, and got a good education. My grandmother would come and restock their pantry, make sure they were okay, and head back to work.

It was a difficult time for all of them. It was during this period that my grandmother met Natt, the man that I would eventually come to know as my grandfather. He was a funny, well traveled
man with an interesting history. He pursued my grandmother, even though he had a wife
at home. She resisted him for quite some time, but I think the offer of a better life
for her daughters was just too much. He eventually divorced his wife and he and my
grandmother were married.

They traveled to nearly every continent and led a very exotic life. After my grandfather retired, they moved to Minnesota.

I am amazed and really inspired by the life that my grandmother has lead.

Retro Spring, a twice as nice collab by [WM] Squared and DigiKeepsakes by Monica