Growing Up Korean: Lying to Your Kids

#GrowingUpKorean

Every parent has lied to their child about something. From the tooth fairy to “I don’t know who ate your last piece of candy”, all parents have told a little lie here and there.

Well… let me tell you about the time my mother keep a lie going for more than a decade.

Quick Backstory –

We’ve had quite a few dogs in our childhood, most we had to give away and only 1 passing away of old age (RIP Snowie). When we were little, we had a doberman pinscher named “Pee Pee” (My sister name him). He was bad. He kept breaking loose from his chain, jumping the fence and running up the street. He also bit my mom. She gave him away to somebody. We had a dog named Spot, a white with black spots pekingese, who we had to give away when we PCS’d to Germany.

Then in the spring of 93 or 94, we got Brownie and Missy. Brownie was a timid dog, brown and frail. She looked like a chihuahua, but I’m pretty sure she was mixed. Missy on the other hand, was a fierce, hyper active, hound mix. She would eat her food and the food Brownie wouldn’t eat. She was greedy. She would chew on everything. She even caught birds out of the air… She was weird, but she was ours.

About a year later, we came home from school one day and Missy was nowhere to be found. We asked my mom where was Missy, my mom smoothly replied “Missy ran away. She dug a hole under the gate and ran away.” My sister and I were distraught. We went around the neighborhood looking for Missy. We couldn’t find her, no matter how loud we yelled her name….

“MISSSSSSYYYYYY!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!?”

Nothing.

So we went home sad, but hey, that’s life, right? And plus, we still had Brownie. – Well, that was until the summer came and went to see some family in TN. We took Brownie with us and our grandfather fell in love with her. So what did my parents do? They agreed to give our dog away to him. Who takes a child’s dog away from them and gives it to someone the dog doesn’t even know??? – But I digress….

Anyways, we ended up getting Snowie and she lived a good life and passed away as she got old. After her, we didn’t get another dog. (End backstory)

So fast forward to 2009/2010ish, we’re having a family gathering at my mom’s house and while going through the photo albums, we came across a picture of Snowie and starting talking about our old dogs. I ask my mom, “Hey Ma, you remember Brownie and Missy?”

I kid you not, my mom replied “Ugh, I hated that dog Missy. That’s why I let her go”.

……

“Ma, what?” my sister asked.

My mother started to laugh. In between her laughter, she said “That dog ate the air condition unit wires and I had enough. I picked her up, drove her behind Food Lion, and I kicked her out. Ooooohhhhh she was sooo bad.”

My sister’s and my jaws dropped. My sister replied “Ma, you told us that she ran away”.

My mother… my blood mother… looked us in our eyeballs and said “I lied”, laughed, and she went back in the kitchen.

We all laugh it now, but that’s pretty messed up.

Here’s the worst part…. SHE HELPED US LOOK FOR THE DOG! She drove us around the neighborhood in her green Lincoln Town car, with us hanging out the window screaming out “MISSY!” knowing that dog was long gone.

Have a great week ya’ll! And stop lying to your kids too! LOL

GB