01
Hong Kong
How seeking adventure teaches us lessons beyond ourselves
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At the age of 5, my mom moved to Boston from Hong Kong with my Por Por and Gong Gong (Grandmother and Grandfather in Cantonese), and uncles.
For the first time since, my mom returned home reconnecting with family and visiting where she grew up, while sharing it with my Dad, Brother, and I.
For 5 special days we spent time with her cousins seeing the sites of my family. From the apartment where she grew up to my Gong Gongs photography studio to the pawn shop, streets, and small food stands that my Por Por used to visit, these sites felt strangely familiar.
Over the years, I’ve been learning my family’s story. What I’ve learned has been rich in history, resilience, and legacy. In quiet and unexpected ways, the streets of Hong Kong brought a sense of comfort and realization. From the culture, food, and architecture, to the subtle east meets west behaviors of the locals, parts of myself that once felt foreign, now feel lived, understood, and deeply familiar.
In many ways, this experience has helped me understand the complex, intersectional parts of myself. I owe a lot to my family for creating a life full of love, lessons, stories, and meaningful traditions that I have the honor of passing on.
Sub note
During this trip, i read the Matthew McConaughey memoir, "Greelights". This quote seemed scratched an itch at the time (it still does):
“Sometimes you gotta go back to go forward. And I don’t mean goin’ back to reminisce or chase ghosts. I mean go back to see where you came from, where you been, how you got HERE."
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