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center for writing | minnesota writing project | mwp invitational summer institute | institute fellows 2019

Gaoly Her

©2019

My Grandma

In 1992 my grandma left the refugee camps of Thailand and came to the United States. I was 1 at that time. My grandma babysat me while my parents were away at work before I started kindergarten. Everyday I woke up to my grandma sitting over by this big bright window, because it provided the best lighting in the house. She sat there while working on her Hmong embroidery. She greeted me every morning with a chuckle and made fun of me for sleeping in, also because I had messy hair. I would sit next to her as I watch her sew and pick at the little bucket of beads next to her. I would help by putting the beads together in patterns before they were sewn on. I liked the heart shaped beads the most. She told me that if I could find as many as I can, she would sew them onto a hat for me and so I did. 

Eventually I asked my grandma to teach me how to cross stitch, because I too wanted to start my own paaj ntaub (Hmong embroidery/cross stitching). We would do this almost every afternoon until my mom came home from work.

She has sewn almost every Hmong outfit that I own. My mom gave them to me at my wedding. Traditionally when a Hmong daughter is born, her mother starts putting together Hmong clothes for her including her wedding dress. Considering that my mom grew up during the time of the Vietnam war, her family spent a lot of time running away from being killed. She did not spend much time hand sewing. My grandma however could sit there for days and put together an entire outfit. My grandma ended up sewing many of my Hmong outfits, including the one for my wedding, 

Spring of 2015, my grandma caught what we thought was the cold. In 6 short months it progressed to stage IV lung cancer. She finally passed in November 2015.

If I could imagine my grandma right now, I picture her doing what she loves most, sewing by the large and bright window.