#4 Sumi in South Jersey

Your Creative Sparks:

• Making STRONG decisions can build a bridge to a new world.
• Good food is a POWERFUL motivator and connector.
• A healthy and happy FAMILY is the key ingredient of a good life.

They say life happens in the kitchen. Pull up a chair and prepare to fill your bowl with motherly wisdom. Sumi is our Lobsterbird’s Mom. She was the first Korean on Long Beach Island. She came to America in 1971, at a time when racial tensions were still high. She married her American sweetheart at a time when mixed marriages were taboo. But for Sumi, she was just building a normal life with a nice man, doing the best she could, raising two strong daughters, and filling their lives with good food and sound decisions. A pioneer does not always recognize they occupy that important role. They just come to the table and serve.

Your Travelogue

• As a child, Sumi learned the priority of family ties in a literal way. Her family was moving by boat from from Japan to Korea when a violent storm rose up. Her father tied the family together with a long rope to “protect them”. His mindset was... in case something happened, no one would go out alone; they would all be together, even in death. [4:33]
• Sumi met a nice, very good-looking American military man while she was working as a waitress in a nightclub in Korea. They didn’t share the same language, but they could share “conversation” on the dance floor. [20:00]
• Sumi moved to the US to build a life with John. She arrived in a quiet town with no friends and no job. She learned English by watching TV commercials. What she missed most, however, was good Korean food, so the first thing she learned how to do was to drive to the Chinatown market. [27:00]
• Sumi’s hearty passion for good Korean food and caring for her family eventually produced a “psychic ability” in her, where she always seems to know exactly what people want to eat. [46:14]
• Sumi’s advice for a good life: Watch your budget. Don’t stress out. Make sure your family is healthy, together and happy. [57:17]

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Lobsterbird goes to Korea and “Frees Her Seoul”: http://lobsterbird.com/freeing-my-seoul
• Turns out Lobsterbird isn’t the only one! Check out this award-winning story about another Korean mother who loves her family through food and passes on healing as an art in the kitchen: https://www.glamour.com/story/real-life-love-loss-and-kimchi

Music for this episode was contributed by Daniel Munkus and recorded in the Hudson River Valley at Subtle Soup Studios. For more info, visit: www.subtlesouprecords.com.

Podcast management and creative copy provided by Sonya Louise of GO Solo Travel & Vision Quest.

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