Darlene Wu Anderson - The Blue Sky in the Heart

THE BLUE
SKY IN THE
HEART

DARLENE WU ANDERSON

Copyright 2014 Darlene Wu Anderson.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-2612-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2611-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014902571

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/13/2014

CONTENTS

It was in the beautiful island of Taiwan where my life began. It was also there where the unimaginable calamities unfolded in my childhood. My life was forever changed because of those unusual events. However, despite all the tragedies and hardship that have threatened my existence and affected my livelihood I have been blessed by Gods grace as well as up-lifted by the love and compassion of humanity. In this memoir I am going to share with you the incredible journey of my youth. It will probably unveil your emotions. More importantly, I hope it will also shed light on the spirit of faith and hope in you.

CHAPTER ONE

I was born in September of 1952, the third child of four children in my family. My name was Wu Tao Ming for twenty years before it was changed for a special reason other than marriage.

Let me begin by briefly introducing my parents. Father was a lieutenant colonel in the Chinese air force. He grew up in Szechuan province. When he was still a child his father kicked his mother and him out of the house and took in another woman. His oldest brother helped raise him and took care of their mother. This hard life at a young age made Father tough. His brother taught him how to read and prepared him for the military school. Father passed the screening test and entered the military academy as a teenager. He graduated with honor. The tall, strong, and athletic young man was a die-hard patriot and his beloved brother was his hero. Father spent his entire career in the air force.

In 1945 when World War II ended, Father was on the first military plane to Taiwan to retrieve the island from the Japanese occupation of fifty years. Two years later Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) and the Communists overpowered the weakened government forces and took over mainland China. The Nationalist troops let by Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan where they established the government of the Republic of China. Consequently, Father stayed in Taiwan. Over the years the Nationalist had vowed to regain their strength and fight back someday to recover their lost land but the political environment had eventually evolved into a different situation. Today Taiwan is still a separate regime from China.

My mother was an attractive young lady. She was also from China. Her father was a well-educated government official before and during the war. Her family was wealthy in those days and Mother used to tell me that when she was growing up she never had to do anything but to be pampered by their servants. I supposed that explained why she was not experienced in cooking and homemaking.

Both of my parents grew up in Chengdu Szechuan. They met and fell in love there and after my father was relocated to Taiwan, Mother went to visit him when she was twenty years old. Before she could return home to China, the Communists closed their iron gate. Communications were cut off between the two sides. Mother and Father were married in Taiwan.

To start a family in a strange land was not easy. The economy in Taiwan was still crawling. The military was struggling with its depleted resources after eight years of fighting first the Japanese, and then the Communists. All the houses for military were built as temporary structures. The intention was that everyone would return to the mainland soon. All in all, suffice it to say that we were poor.

When I was about eighteen months old Father was out of town on a military mission, and Mother was left home alone to take care of three children under the age of six. My sister was five and my brother was three. Caring for three little ones without any help proved too much for Mother to handle. One day an unthinkable life altering disaster happened. It left me with a lifetime of physical impairments and burdened Mother with the feeling of inescapable guilt.

According to my father this is what happened on that horrible day, even though he wasnt there at the time. Mother was cooking on a kerosine stove. I was walking around and playing in the house, Somehow I got too close to the stove where Mother was cooking and lost my balance. The stove was tipped over and before Mother could pull me away from danger, I was on fire. The flame engulfed my face and severely burned my left hand and left foot. My right thumb and right shin were also touched by fire. In a matter of seconds my life was almost destroyed. Mothers left arm was burned as well when she grabbed me to safety.

That was the story Father told for the record. He was usually the spokesman for the accident. Mother always avoided the subject. I didnt want to bring up the forbidden past to cause Mother more pain. The truth would not be told by Mother until almost fifty years later.

Right after the accident I was rushed to the nearby air force hospital with my life hanging in the balance. I remember Father later explained to my first grade teacher Ms. Wu, The doctor said her chance of survival was very slim. But my little fighter survived. However, the hospital did a terrible job of restoring her physical damages. Some of her conditions are actually the results of their poor care. Father shook his head in discontent.

In retrospect, I almost feel like I was a victim of medical malpractice. I am not sure how advanced the skills of the plastic surgeons were at the time of my accident. I understand the technology was limited and treatment for burned patients was inadequate. But what the hospital did to me was mind boggling. I did not receive by far the kind of care I desperately needed. Not only that, their negligence caused me more serious long-term problems.

While I was in the hospital Father said the doctor cut off all the dead skin and wrapped up my face in heavy bandages. I was left alone for several days. My face got badly infected from lack of proper medication and oxygen. The infected areas were then treated but no skin graft was done to take care of the indentations in the flesh and to repair the damaged skin. My face was wrapped up again. It was hard to imagine what they had done to me unless one could see my face. When all the wounds were finally healed there was no trace of that sweet darling baby face everyone adored. Instead I looked like a scary little monster.

Let me describe my shocking little face so youll have an idea of what I looked like. My forehead was a layer of white and purple blotchy skin. My eyebrows were gone. my eyes were partially covered with webbed skin on the corners - the inner corner of the right eye and the outer corner on the left eye to be exact. It was a miracle that my vision was left unharmed at that time. My nose was a lump embedded in the middle of my face with two holes. Surprisingly, I could still breathe. My mouth was a small open space surrounded by thick scar tissues. I had to be fed with a chopstick by poking the food into my mouth from a tiny spoon. In the middle of my chin there was a hole where food and liquid often fell in and caused problems and infections.