South Korea – M J Mallon YA Author and Poet

The last time my eldest daughter left home I wrote a flash fiction piece for Carrot Ranch which I entitled The Riptide Suitcases expressing my emotions at my daughter moving abroad.

The Riptide Suitcases

The riptide hid in two shallow suitcases. Foreign tee-shirts lay crushed against jumpers, jeans pressed unfolded next to sandals and boots. I lifted my daughter’s larger suitcase up; it was heavy but not as heavy as my swirling heart.

No traffic impeded our journey. The ripples began early, too early. We shared coffee but didn’t eat. The departure gate beckoned. The riptide began. It burst out of me. I cried, no I wailed. Guilt crashed against waves of sadness. Sadness wrestled and drowned my heart. Never again will I feel such depths of emotion. My adventurer, daughter had gone.

Here is the link to that piece of emotional flash: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/september-14-flash-fiction-challenge/

That was three years ago. Natasha stayed in South Korea for a year and absolutely loved it. I’m so proud of her for taking that courageous step, to travel to the other side of the world to teach English takes a considerable amount of guts especially when you don’t speak the language and you are so young. She was the youngest EFL teacher in her school, newly graduated from University.

You can see a little about that here: (unlike her mum she never really got into blogging, she only wrote two blog posts! )

My First Day in South Korea

https://tashainkorealand.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/this-place-sure-has-soul-my-first-trip-to-seoul-south-korea-part-1/

It’s been such a confidence boost for her. What an experience!

Today, she is travelling again but not so far this time – to Glasgow to study to be a secondary English Teacher. I wish her luck, happiness and success.

I wrote about our trip to Glasgow, ( looking for accommodation,) and a poem here: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2020/03/06/colleens-2020-weekly-tanka-tuesday-poetry-challenge-no-167-poetschoice-haiga/

Why Scotland? Natasha has always loved it. My hubby and I always make Edinburgh our home-from-home, so it’s no wonder that at least one of our children might decide to stay there…

This is my piece of flash:

This Life

Three years ago, we said our goodbyes at the departure gate before that first flight. How I cried. I wept for a day, and the next day I wept without weeping. My darling daughter gone so faraway. She braved how scared she was. Now, she is adventuring again – not so far this time! And yet her friends miss her already. I miss her already. This is life, young adults are always moving, taking those steps to independence. They never leave your thoughts. They’re always a part of you, wherever they are.

Daughters always stay in your heart.

***

August 13: Flash Fiction Challenge

It will be my youngest daughter’s turn next – Georgina – and then it truly will be empty nest syndrome! Still, I still have her for now… Yay!

Having spent so much time with both of them during lockdown I know I will find it especially hard.

Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Authors Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-J-Mallon/e/B074CGNK4L
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/
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My Tanka this week is just a funny story really. This is what happened…

The day before our daughter Tasha was due to go to South Korea to teach English as a foreign language my youngest disappeared. She’d been out for a driving lesson and no one had heard from her. Her mobile had been left on the bed with her debit card too… now we knew something was up. How strange. Hours later she turned up safe and well… at home where she’d been all along! No one had seen her, or heard her. She’d been watching TV in the downstairs lounge, and had crept back up to her bed and scooted under the duvet, all without anyone noticing – that’s taking playing at hiding, just chilling to a new level!

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Equally as strange was this cloud formation Tasha and I had seen. The photo doesn’t do it justice, it resembled a giant bird taking flight and within twenty four hours that’s just what Tasha did – flew away.

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Yesterday morning, my husband drove us to Heathrow so that Tasha could catch her flight to Seoul, and then on to Busan. I knew I’d miss her – I’d been taking every opportunity to spend time with her. I have to admit I was overwhelmed by my emotions. As she left for the departure gate my eyes filled with tears and my youngest Gina saw me crying and started to cry a bit too. For a moment it brought back memories to three years ago when we dropped Tasha off in Brighton to begin her University course. Miraculously, I hadn’t cried then, but I made up for the lack of tears by crying spectacularly now!

It isn’t easy to see your children leave for a year but we couldn’t be more proud of her. It takes courage to embark upon a life-changing adventure when you are only twenty one. Or craziness! There’s a lot of her grandfather in her. My dad left Scotland and travelled to the Far East many, many years ago. At the time, he was told that he was crazy to do so and now it seems that his granddaughter is now following in his footsteps.

I hope you enjoyed this Tanka and personal anecdote.

If you have sons or daughters leaving home to go far away, perhaps to study or to work, I’d love to hear your experiences, let’s share a tear or two.

Much love,

Bye for now,

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To join in with Colleen’s wonderful poetry challenge: https://colleenchesebro.com/2017/08/29/colleens-weekly-poetry-challenge-no-48-haiku-tanka-haibun-stone-turn/

My social media links:

Fellow Administrators of our Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club #ABRSC on Facebook, myself, my good friends Colleen Chesebro and Debby Gies. Click on Colleen’s and Debby’s photos to be directed to their awesome blogs. These ladies rock!