The Best Place in My Mother’s Eyes

This year, my seventy-five-year-old mother made the long journey to visit me, now that I live overseas after getting married. The thirteen-hour flight in a cramped airplane seat must have been exhausting. As soon as she got off the plane and saw me, the first thing she said was not, “It’s so good to see you,” but, “Why did you have to move so far away?” And yet, I knew my mother must have counted down the days, eagerly waiting to come and see her daughter.

Years ago, before we got married, my husband and I traveled from the United States to my parents’ home in Korea to ask for their blessings. Right away, my mother asked my husband's last name. When I told her that it was “Uchil,” she responded, “Oh, so it’s Woo?” No matter how many times I told it was “Uchil,” not “Woo,” she has continued to call him “Woo” to this day.

There is also a funny story from the first time my mother flew to visit me. At the airport security checkpoint, an officer asked whether she had any liquids in her bag. She confidently replied that she did not. But when her bag went through the scanner, the officer detected some liquid and asked her to open it. Inside was a 1.5-liter container filled with sesame oil. Looking rather flustered, my brother-in-law asked, “Didn’t you say there weren't any liquids in your bag?” Without the slightest hint of embarrassment, she insisted, “That’s right. There aren’t any liquids. There only just sesame oil. Oil and water are completely different things!”

My mother, who was once so full of energy, now finds even walking difficult. When the Zion members asked whether she was happy to be in America, she replied, “It’s not being in America that makes me happy. I’m happy because I can see my daughter and share meals with her.” That was when I realized something: While others may have their own ideas of the best countries or cities to live in, for my mother, the best place in the world is simply wherever she can see her daughter.

In the vastness of the universe, the earth is so small and insignificant that its very existence seems to fade into obscurity. Yet our Heavenly Mother came to this earth, the city of refuge, for one reason alone—Her children. Though She knew how arduous the journey would be and how long and lonely the road, She came without a moment’s hesitation. Today, even here in this distant land, I feel the tender love of Mother very close to me.