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USA250 Journal Project
Personal Chronicle: July 4, 2025 – July 5, 2026
A gift for reflection. A record of now. A story for what’s next.
✍️ Prompt One: “Who am I?”
I am Mai Nguyen.
Born in the Mekong Delta.
Arrived in America by boat.
Worked with my hands until they shook.
I am a mother. A widow. A woman who knows what hunger sounds like. What fear smells like. What silence can save.
I do not cry easily. I do not talk much. I do not understand everything Rosa says—but I remember holding her the first time. And now, I hold Ember. I know love when I see it, even if I do not always say the words.
I believe in hard work. In modesty. In safety.
And I believe that sometimes, what looks like fear is just love wearing armor.
✍️ Prompt Two: “How did I get here?”
I was seventeen when I left Vietnam. My brother was shot. My father disappeared. My mother died on the boat. I do not talk about this. Not because I forget. But because I remember.
When we came to California, I worked in a nail salon. Long hours. Chemicals. Small talk in a language I barely knew. I sent Rosa to school with clean clothes, hot rice, and hope.
She grew up strong. Smart. Quiet like her father.
Then she told me she loved a woman. I didn’t speak for a long time. Not because I was angry. But because I did not have the words for something so new. So big.
Then Ember came. And I held her. And I knew—my job is to love, not to understand everything.
I visit when I can. I bring soup. I fold laundry. I do not ask about the work Rosa won’t talk about. I do not understand “surveillance contracts.” I only know the sound she makes when she is worried. It is the same sound I used to make when I woke at 4 a.m. to open the salon.
What has life taught me?
That survival is not the same as peace.
That love does not always speak the same language.
And that even broken stories deserve to be held.
Family
Rosa Nguyen – Daughter.
Ember Nguyen-Torres – Grandaughter.
Lena Torres – Daughters Partner.
