743. Bang! Bang! Bang! As I Opened the Door, There Stood a Woman With Wild, Ramen-Like Hair

💌743. Bang! Bang! Bang! As I Opened the Door, There Stood a Woman With Wild, Ramen-Like Hair

We had just moved into Su-gang Apartment in a hurry and were busy preparing for Mr. Bong’s eye surgery, so we had not had time to finish unpacking yet. A few days after we moved in, it was August 15th—the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On solemnities and feast days of the Lord and the Blessed Mother, we always dressed with care and reverence as a sign of our respect and devotion when going to church.

Our whole family woke up early in the morning, prayed together, ate breakfast and then got ready to go to church. Julio put on a suit and the children finished bathing ,put on their neatest clothes to get ready. Since I wore a hanbok to church on solemnities, while I was getting dressed, the children sat quietly on the sofa, praying.

Barring any unusual circumstances, we would arrive at church at least 30 minutes early. On the Solemnity of the Assumption, however, we made an extra effort to be there even sooner. The moment we finished all our preparations and reached for the front door to head to church, someone began pounding furiously on it—“Bang! Bang! Bang!” Startled, I thought it might be a pilgrim and hurried to open the door. To my surprise, it was a woman who lived in the apartment just below us.

She stood there with her eyes wide open, glaring, her long hair even more frizzy and wild than ramen noodles. She and I already knew each other. She was younger than me and used to run an OB draft beer bar near my beauty parlor back when I was still in business. She came to get her hair done nearly every day but I could not return the favor by drinking at her bar because I cannot drink.

Instead, I would get up at 4 a.m. to clean the streets—sweeping not only in front of my beauty parlor but also the arcade across from it and even in front of her bar—all while offering it up through the Prayer of Life. 

When the two hairdressers at my parlor were not getting along well with each other, I even went to her bar to make a purchase, hoping to help reconcile them.

When I asked, “What is the matter?” she barged in without permission and started shouting. 

“What on earth are you doing up there from early in the morning? Playing soccer in your room? Riding a bike? Or running laps?” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

None of us in the family had any idea why she was acting that way and we were all so shocked that we just stood there in stunned silence. Then, waving her hands up and down and even pointing her finger at us, she shouted,

“What, you cannot even answer me? Do you think you are the only one living here? If you want to do that kind of exercise, go live in a house, not an apartment!”

She went on yelling and cursing loudly. We had just moved in and had not even finished unpacking… And our family had always lived quietly and respectfully. At that moment, I thought to myself, “Because Jesus loves our family so much, He is allowing us to receive His love once again today. No matter how much she yells or swears, I will treat her with kindness.”

As I was thinking this way, she suddenly shouted, “Were you not banging around while changing out the coal briquettes?!”

So I simply told her the truth: “No, not at all. We did not change any briquettes. As you can see, we were just getting ready to go to church and the children were quietly sitting on the sofa, praying. I am wearing a hanbok right now—clearly, we were not running or doing anything noisy.”

We had four children but they were so well-behaved that not once had they ever made a loud noise. Even back when I had just started my beauty parlor and the children were much younger; I did not allow them to come into the parlor for the sake of their upbringing. Since they were never seen and made no sound at all, many people actually thought I was single!

But the youngest was already in elementary school and the eldest was in middle school—how could such grown-up children be making a racket? After I explained the truth, she raised her voice even more and kept shouting unreasonably.

“I work all night and sleep during the morning! But you people were making such a racket that the whole room was shaking—I could not get a single bit of sleep!” she kept yelling. 

This lady, a Protestant, had her long hair tightly permed into curls that looked like ramen noodles. She must have come out just after waking up with her hair down and it was so wildly disheveled it looked almost frightening. On top of that, she pointed her finger aggressively and did not hesitate to curse loudly, so my children were so scared they trembled, ran to their rooms and even hid.

My personal reflection note with Mama Julia🌹💗 

Link 👇🏻

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMn-IyINZ8oGN8Jv4M0-pozcdF67tEqzlPkk4s0EZKdnOdEw/viewform