"this is the worst day of my life." --me after school on 2/6/1992

...except it turned out to be one of the best! we knew that my brother might fly in that evening, but nothing was certain so mom wouldn't let us tell anyone. it was really difficult to control the excitement that day! after supper, mom, dad, my sister, and i loaded into the mini-van for the 2-hour drive to omaha. even then, we didn't know whether my brother would fly in. (he flew from south korea to seattle a few days previous, but was stuck in customs for awhile).

we got to the airport and awhile later, the plane that he might be on arrived. a bunch of suits came off along with a few families. and then no one else. after 5-10 minutes, an elderly woman exited, carrying a young, korean boy. we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

i remember it being really awkward. this 1-year-old kid was my brother, but i didn't know him at all. do i hold him? do i try to make him giggle? what do i do?

he wasn't sure what to think of us either. it was obvious that he was tired of being on a plane, but he didn't have anyone familiar to go to. we were huddled around, smiling at him and he had this bewildered look on his face. he squrmed out of someone's arms and started crawling around on the cold tile, gazing up at us every once-in-a-while. after signing papers and visiting a bit, we loaded up and took this stranger home with us.

15 years later, i can't imagine life without him. to me, this day is just as significant as his birthday because it's the first day i saw him.

so...happy birthday William!