Joanna Gaines (right) and Joanna’s mom with her sister (left).Photo:Courtesy of Magnolia Journal; Larry Busacca/Getty Images for TIME
Courtesy of Magnolia Journal; Larry Busacca/Getty Images for TIME
Joanna Gainesis reflecting on a heartwarming memory from her family trip to South Korea.
“My mom spent those months trying to contact her sister, who she hadn’t seen in decades,” Joanna writes in the issue of the time leading up to the trip. “The many years proved impossible to wade through. Number systems in South Korea had changed, making the number my mom had scribbled in her phone book useless.”
Joanna’s mom Nan wearing a traditional Korean hanbok.Courtesy of Magnolia Journal
Courtesy of Magnolia Journal
Describing the emotional reunion, she adds that everyone “had tears in our eyes, witnessing that missing part of my mom be found and restored.”
Joanna (left) posting with her mom and two sisters.Courtesy of Magnolia Journal
TheFixer Upperstar says her aunt immediately joined in on all of the activities the group had planned for the rest of the week and that her mom was “the proudest I’ve ever seen her.”
After years of wanting to visit Seoul with her family, Joanna shares it was her husbandChipwho declared 2023 would be the year they would finally make the trip. Along with getting theirfive kidson board, the couple persuaded 24 of Joanna’s family members to embark on the journey with them — includingher dad, hertwo sisters, her uncles and her cousins.
Chip and Joanna Gaines posing during their family trip to South Korea.Courtesy of Magnolia Journal
Joanna recalls seeing cherry blossoms in “full bloom” and visiting food markets as being among some of the highlights of their vacation. But nothing compared to seeing her whole family dressed in traditional Korean clothing, called hanbok, which she alsodocumented on Instagramwith a shot of her youngest son, Crew, all dressed up during the trip.
In the issue, she adds, “Seeing my mom, Nan, in the place where her story began was surreal." Seeing her mom in hanbok for the first time, she writes, “it was almost as if I were seeing her for the first time.”
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Joanna helping her youngest son Crew with his hanbok.Courtesy of Magnolia Journal
Joanna’s parents met in 1969 while her dad, Jerry, was serving in the U.S. army in South Korea. After nearly three years, her dad went back to the U.S. and later sent her mom a letter asking her to marry him along with a plane ticket. The couple tied the knot in a San Francisco ceremony in 1972, marking the beginning of their over 50-year (and counting!) love story.
While Joanna is prouder than ever of her Korean heritage now, she didn’t always feel that way. During anexclusive interview with PEOPLEin Nov. 2022, the design expert revealed that being teased as a child led her to shun her roots for years.
“We were literally the only Asians in our entire school,” she told PEOPLE, referring to her sisters Mikey and Teresa. Joanna revealed that students used to call her names and mock her for eating rice in the cafeteria at lunch.
“It was deeply personal because that was half of my story,” she continued. “I realized if this isn’t accepted, maybe I need to hide it and play more into the other side of who I am.”
Through writing her memoir,The Stories We Tell,she healed some of that past trauma andhas now been fully embracing her heritageand passing it along to her five kids. Ahead of the book’s release she shared, “My Korean heritage is one of the things I’m most proud of. I’m trying to make up for that lost time – the culture is just so beautiful. I think discovering who you are and what you were made to do is a lifelong journey.”
To read the full cover story, visitmagnolia.comand pick up a copy of Magnolia Journal’s Spring 2024 issue out on newsstands on Friday, February 23.
source: people.com
