Home Is Where The Heart Is

I have grown a lot since I left my father’s home. I’ve learned to appreciate and respect life the way it is. It’s been a good life and time has flown by.

I’ve been in this country, America, now longer than I was in Viet Nam! Twenty-three years there, thirty years here.

Yet even while I love my home here, my heart still goes back to my home in Viet Nam, because that’s where my dad is. I haven’t seen him in forever, at least five years, and my heart cries to be with him again.

On a trip to Florida years ago, I saw a banyan tree growing mysteriously. It’s a type of fig tree that actually starts with its roots above ground, that then grow down into the earth. Eventually there is a tree with many branches from which descend thick roots like posts from branch to ground. It’s an amazing sight!

I feel like that banyan tree. I started my life in Viet Nam, that is where my roots lie. Then I came here and had my family. I am a branch from which the roots of my children drop down and take root in America, and then my grandchildren drop their roots and are rooted here as well.

The tree didn’t start its growth here, and some of its roots are far from where the present set of roots are, but they are all connected.

I am still very connected to my roots in Viet Nam, even though I feel so far away from them. I feel really like that banyan tree, that has roots in two places. But my dad is the main trunk of the tree for me. So that part of my heart is always in Viet Nam with him.

I hope to be able to visit him in the New Year.

At this holiday season, may you be with those who hold your heart. Have a joyous and prosperous new year!