Boen Wang

The story of my dad waiting for someone to pick him up at the airport has taken on an almost mythological significance to me. This moment that sealed my fate years before I even existed. Because as he stood in the terminal, he also stood at a crossroads. Is there an alternate reality where Dave doesn't pick him up and someone else does instead?

The story of my dad waiting for someone to pick him up at the airport has taken on an almost mythological significance to me. This moment that sealed my fate years before I even existed. Because as he stood in the terminal, he also stood at a crossroads. Is there an alternate reality where Dave doesn't pick him up and someone else does instead?

Someone who isn't a Christian and my dad never converts and my life is so much better as a result. I was born in Oklahoma and moved away when I was two. I have no memories of living there or of Dave. What was it about this place and these people that made my parents choose Christianity?

Someone who isn't a Christian and my dad never converts and my life is so much better as a result. I was born in Oklahoma and moved away when I was two. I have no memories of living there or of Dave. What was it about this place and these people that made my parents choose Christianity?

If I went there myself, if I talked to Dave and the people who knew them, visited the places they spent time in, attended the church they worshipped at, and tried to imagine what their lives were like 35 years ago, maybe then I could finally understand why things went the way they did. Okay, I'm standing in the Oklahoma City airport.

If I went there myself, if I talked to Dave and the people who knew them, visited the places they spent time in, attended the church they worshipped at, and tried to imagine what their lives were like 35 years ago, maybe then I could finally understand why things went the way they did. Okay, I'm standing in the Oklahoma City airport.

I had this idea where I would like stand where my dad stood looking around for someone to pick him up, but I don't know exactly where that would be. I just seem just tired and want to lay in a bed. I think I'll go do that. Rolling my suitcase across the parking lot, I think about how my dad flew in from Beijing as an alien, to use the official terminology, while I arrived from Pittsburgh as a U.S.

I had this idea where I would like stand where my dad stood looking around for someone to pick him up, but I don't know exactly where that would be. I just seem just tired and want to lay in a bed. I think I'll go do that. Rolling my suitcase across the parking lot, I think about how my dad flew in from Beijing as an alien, to use the official terminology, while I arrived from Pittsburgh as a U.S.

citizen. How my dad was at the mercy of strangers for transportation while I have a license and rental car. how I would now retrace the route my dad took from Oklahoma City to Norman, and how the one thing we share is a sense of exhaustion, of wanting nothing more than a warm bed in a private room at the end of a long day in a strange place. Do you remember what you saw looking out the window?

citizen. How my dad was at the mercy of strangers for transportation while I have a license and rental car. how I would now retrace the route my dad took from Oklahoma City to Norman, and how the one thing we share is a sense of exhaustion, of wanting nothing more than a warm bed in a private room at the end of a long day in a strange place. Do you remember what you saw looking out the window?

Red Lobster, Chick-fil-A, McDonald's. Just naming chain restaurants here. All lit up in neon signs.

Red Lobster, Chick-fil-A, McDonald's. Just naming chain restaurants here. All lit up in neon signs.

University of Oklahoma is our exit.

University of Oklahoma is our exit.

The next day, I go to my parents' first apartment. I just want to see it with my own eyes. The building is two stories and painted a pale yellow, with a big porch a guy is sitting on. All of a sudden, I guess that's some sort of warning? Maybe like a tornado warning? Is there a tornado coming? No idea. Anyway, I'm gonna do my parents' commute.

The next day, I go to my parents' first apartment. I just want to see it with my own eyes. The building is two stories and painted a pale yellow, with a big porch a guy is sitting on. All of a sudden, I guess that's some sort of warning? Maybe like a tornado warning? Is there a tornado coming? No idea. Anyway, I'm gonna do my parents' commute.

Walk to the old chemistry building that they used to stay at.

Walk to the old chemistry building that they used to stay at.

Three or four stories and like faded yellow brick. Some like castle-like turrets on the top. Interesting. Some of the outside is pretty corroded now. When you said, like, you just, like, parachuted into this place and you had zero, you started at zero, you had nothing. Do you think that's why, like, you relied so heavily on the church?

Three or four stories and like faded yellow brick. Some like castle-like turrets on the top. Interesting. Some of the outside is pretty corroded now. When you said, like, you just, like, parachuted into this place and you had zero, you started at zero, you had nothing. Do you think that's why, like, you relied so heavily on the church?