The author is an individual whose resilience – whether amid poverty as a child or in her eventual journey to becoming a teacher, counselor, and aspiring author – overflows to impact the lives of those around her. She understands her story is not just her own. Her emotions, social life, and relationships today are intertwined with experiences, memories, and people from earlier in her life. Out of the many, Joy chooses to explore her earlier memories of her mother, a woman born in 1927 in Korea. Emotions run deep as the author vulnerably feels her mother’s pain and experiences a deep-seated resentment toward those who mistreated her mother. However, Joy’s purpose in sharing this memoir is to understand the past to ultimately create a better future. She hopes her message of holding onto resilience in adversity and gentle hope for an unknown yet promising future will encourage her readers.