"My Mother Calls Me," published by Brevity Magazine

“When my brother and I were little, my mom wrote our names in Korean on the Christmas presents so that, when we woke up extra-early on Christmas morning and snooped through the gifts under the tree, we wouldn’t know which gifts were ours. I remember how her slender back would bend over the gifts under the lighted tree to read what only she could, and we were breathless with anticipation until the moment my mom placed the gift directly in our hands. My name written phonetically in Korean: 

미셸 

I wonder if this is how my mom sees my name in her head. Or does she only see my face. Or maybe she sees nothing at all.”