I finished reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and he recommended Think and Grow Rich. One of the ways to Think and Grow Rich is to have a burning desire to be and to do and that’s how the dreamer takes off. Dreams are seedlings of reality.

This reminded me of Mandy. Mandy from a very young age had a dream. Her dream was to go to America. When her relatives from America visited her from China, they would tell her stories of America. Mandy was excited by the idea that America is a land paved with gold.

Mandy grew up in a small village called Hai Ping which was next door to Ying Ping where she fell in love and met her husband. They moved to the city and had three beautiful children. It was during the Cultural Revolution and food was rationed, with limited tickets. Mandy had to watch her husband murder her beloved dog and eat it for dinner. Sometimes her rich relatives from America would send her money and stories of the land of opportunity and riches. She was determined and had a burning desire for her dream to become a reality.

It started with naming her daughter after an American name “Lina”. Mandy wanted her daughter to marry a man and they would immigrate to America. Mandy also had a middle son who died before the age of three due to Leukemia (which was untreatable then). Mandy paired her middle son with her friend’s daughter who also passed away very young to be husband and wife in the afterlife. Her friend soon immigrated to Toronto Canada, so Mandy has another connection.

Her beautiful daughter Lina soon grew up and was groomed to marry not a man that she loved but a man who had a green card. Mandy had a precious cute adorable 5-year-old granddaughter named Shanni that she had to say goodbye to so she could go to the land of opportunities and riches. Mandy soon passed away from heartbreak missing her daughter and granddaughter two years after the immigration.  She had a bad stroke at 57 years old. Mandy never made it to America but I wanted to honor my sweet grandma and mother who sacrificed and to just demonstrate how powerful DESIRE is. As I wrote in my previous post about the complex relationship between a Chinese daughter and her Mother relationship, often mother wants the daughter to fulfill their dreams.

My grandmother with her persistence and desire and putting dreams into action, I was able to make it to America. I know if she was alive today, she would be overjoyed.

I was not able to get a photo of her when she was young, but here is a photo of her with me as a baby and my grandpa.

If you really enjoy my grandma Mandy's story and can relate too and would like an Asian American therapist  in NYC that could understand and help you dissect and make sense of immigration and assimilation while understanding racial identity, please contact me to book a free 15 minutes consultation. I look forward to hearing your story!