A Bánh Mì for Two

by Trinity Nguyen

When you’re so close to the answer, you almost don’t want to keep going because it’s safer to stay in the dark. Because maybe knowing is the scariest part.

Thương doesn’t just mean love, it’s a special kind of love, and the meaning floats between “sacrificial love” and “unconditional love.”

Well that about sums up motherhood

“I’m not brave, Vivi,” she continues. “You made me brave somehow. With you here, I felt less … alone. And for some reason, I felt the same today as I did years ago with my dad: happy.”

Like a typical Vietnamese dad, mine only does two things with his phone: He posts a lot on Facebook and he sends a thumbs-up emoji to every one of my texts. He never calls.

Universal dad behavior

“Con, if there is one thing about war that I’ve learned, it is that it takes and takes and takes, relentlessly, without mercy. Vietnamese people are the ones that suffered the most—no matter which side of the war they were on.

“When you’re Vietnamese, you have tenacity in your blood. You have the will to survive. So no matter what, we will always be okay, because we’re Vietnamese.”