This is my mom, a woman I should be able to go on and on about and yet sitting down to write this tribute left me stumped for words and with pure writer's block. Friends and family gave me tips; do this, try that. I thought if all else fails I could give it in Korean.
When I was 19 years old I moved away for university, then from there I went straight to Korea. I think it took me to move to the other corner of the world to really see my mother for the real woman she is. Up until that point she was my mom -- a tough mom, always the boss of the house and always the one in charge of the paddle. She always used to tell me, "Your father may be the head of this house but I'm the neck that turns the head", and that was exactly true. She was a tough-love kind of woman, stubborn in her ways and strong in her beliefs but she loved us, there wasn't anything we could possibly do that would ever change that, and she tried her hardest to be the best mom, sending me to school with baked cookies to share with my friends, insisting on walking me to school every day with a wagon full of babysitting kids trailing behind, showing up to all my school concerts and ceremonies, and having Pizza Wednesdays where I'd be allowed to bring a school friend home for lunch. She was the mom of moms, the envy of many of my friends I'm sure.
But heading out to Korea on my own made me quickly realize a lot of things, one of which was a whole other side to my mom, and so her role in my life at that point shifted from being that of my mother to that of a friend and confidant.
She had always had the gift of gab and this evolved into a gift of gabbing via emailing once I moved across the globe. We'd ramble on about work, chat about friends, talk about boys, and she' give me relationship advice. I'd vent to her about some culture-clash I'd be in and she'd paint a picture with words regarding all her home-cooked food I was missing out on. She used to sign her emails "From your Favorite Mom" for giggles and I'd always reply with "From your Favorite Daughter", but it never did feel like we were mother and daughter emailing each other.
Every once in awhile she'd shift back into mother-mode, get all concerned that I'd be homesick and would send me a parcel of Canadian goodies she knew I'd be craving -- Crest toothpaste, Shake N'Bake, whole wheat tortillas -- and Reese Peanut Butter Cups and NyQuil for my husband. She'd even send packages to my dog Mi Nam.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and that it does but I think it also made my eyes open up. Open up and see my mother not as just my tough-love mother but as a strong female to be my mentor, a compassionate companion to be my friend, and a loyal disciple to be an example to me. I know no matter what I could possibly say will ever do my mother justice but this is my tribute to my mother, my friend.
As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).
After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.
Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.
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