The Proof That I Am My Mom’s Daughter

I got my hair permed, which I hadn’t done in a long time. Because I told the hairdresser that the curls don’t last long on my hair, she permed it extra strong. I knew that my family wouldn’t tell me that I look nice, but at least I was hoping that they would say I looked okay. However, when my husband arrived home after work, he said,

“Oh, I thought your mom was here.” (Ref. In Korea, it is common for older women to have their hair cut short and permed extra curly.)

My daughter’s reaction when she came back from school was the same as my husband’s.

“Mom, you look just like Grandma.”

I looked in the mirror. I burst into laughter, because I couldn’t deny it myself. The older I get, the more I look like my mom. No one would deny that I resemble my mom.

Everyone goes through puberty. That’s when teenagers get sensitive and emotional. When I was going through puberty, I thought my mom wasn’t my real mom. As the third oldest child among two brothers and two sisters, I tried my best to help my mom with the farm work, wanting to get more love and attention than my older sister or my older brother or my younger brother. However, in the little girl’s eyes, it looked like they were receiving more love: my sister because she is the eldest daughter, and my older brother because he is the eldest son, and my younger brother because he is the youngest child. I felt upset. I started hating it whenever my mom would look for me to ask me for help.

“Gyeong-ran, let’s go pull the weeds out. You are so fast and better than me for that job.”

I would have been thrilled to hear her compliment, picked up a hoe, and pulled the weeds out diligently faster than my mom, but now even her compliments felt like her strategy to make me work. Now that I was in middle school, I didn’t want to hear any more compliments from my mom.

One day, we learned possible blood types of children according to their parents’ blood types.

“My dad’s blood type is O, and my mom’s blood type is A. Wait a minute! How come mine is AB?”

My heart sank. In theory, I couldn’t be my mom and dad’s child. No wonder why she made me work so hard. Tears rolled down my face. Even after I came back home, I was still sobbing, not knowing what I should do next. I felt so sad. Did they find me under a bridge like people say? Was I abandoned in front of the gate? I didn’t know if I should let my mom know what I found out or if I should just pretend that I didn’t know anything.

“Gyeong-ran, the peppers are ripe. They’ve turned red. Let’s go pick them.”

Mom told me to work again. I was so sad. I thought there was nothing I could do because I was still young. I felt pity on myself while I was carrying a bag of ripe peppers on the way back home.

One day, my older brother said to my mom with a confused face,

“Mom, my blood type is AB.”

Until then, he thought his blood type was O. But then he found out that his blood type was AB at school, and that was why he asked her about it. I was excited to find out that he has the same blood type as mine.

“Me, too! My blood type is AB, too!”

My mom didn’t seem to care so much about it, and it wasn’t until that evening when we found out that my dad knew his blood type wrong all those years. In the old days, many people didn’t know their blood types or knew them wrong because it was hard for them go see the doctor even when they were sick. If my older brother had never brought it up, I might have continued to think that I was such a pitiful child. I could have asked my mom about it and resolved the misunderstanding. When I thought about it, I felt stupid. That night, I confessed to my mom what I had kept in my mind.

“Mom, I didn’t think you were my real mom. I was going to go find my real mom when I grow up.”

“Ha ha ha. Gyeong-ran, look in the mirror. You and I look the same. So, why would you think I am not your real mom?”

Then it suddenly clicked. I didn’t really have to know the blood types of my family to be convinced that I am my mom’s daughter. I already had the perfect proof. However, being carried away by disappointment, I forgot how much I look like her.

“Then, why did you ask only me to work?”

“Because you don’t get lazy, and you work so diligently.”

She never loved me less than my other siblings. She just trusted me and regarded me as a good daughter. At that moment, I made a resolution to become a good daughter just as my mom believed. My short puberty ended like this. A long time has passed, and now I look like her, sound like her, and walk like her. Daughters resemble their moms more and more like this.

A long time ago, I became Heavenly Mother’s child. While walking the path of faith, I sometimes had this immature thought, ‘Maybe I am not Heavenly Mother’s child. How come only I have so many hardships? Does Mother really love me?’ However, now that I have gone through the spiritual puberty, I know that I am undoubtedly Heavenly Mother’s child who has inherited God’s flesh and blood through the Passover. God is changing me into a perfect heavenly child through refinement, because God trusts me and loves me.

Children are to resemble their parents. Giving love, a broad mind like the sea, consideration, sacrifice, a gentle smile . . . Now I want to hear from the heavenly angels, “You really resemble Heavenly Mother.” It’s because I am Mother’s daughter.