Trang’s Journey, Her Mother’s Silhouette.

Christmas is coming… December, in the gentle lavender-scented warmth of a small café. Still the same eager anticipation as I wait to hand her my very first book — the one that embraces my dream in full.

She tells stories of life and of work. A young woman majoring in Communications, who earned her Master of Arts degree in the land of the Stars and Stripes, chose to return home and ignite the flame in the next generations.

She wanted to honor Trang’s mother, the one who launched her daughter onto the open seas, and also welcomed that beloved little girl back into her embrace.

She chose to begin with Chapter I: Sowing Seeds on Distant Soil, to meet a talented and resilient Trang Nguyễn, charting her own path through “The Road of Self-Determination,” “The First Hand Dealt,” “Even a Princess Must Dance,” “Dreaming in the Big Apple’s Winter Chill,” and countless other unfamiliar experiences of her years studying abroad.

Trang’s mother, also of three sisters close in age who were once all her students: Thùy Trang, Chúc Anh, and Trang Anh - is a woman she will forever remember, with her humble, gentle smile.

“Teacher, do you remember me? How lucky I was that all three of my daughters studied with you.”

She wondered quietly: did the girls feel that “luck” as their mother did? All those years, it was always the mother - and only the mother - waiting patiently in the hallway, ready to ask after every little detail of her three daughters’ schooling.

At the very beginning of the book, Trang wrote:

“This book is respectfully dedicated to my Mom - who is the knowledge, spirit, affection, and the greatest treasure of my life.”

The greatest love in a daughter’s life is her mother; more than anyone, the teacher understood the unbearable pain of losing her.

And now, after setting sail on vast seas and weathering countless storms, Zennie Trang Nguyễn has returned to her river: at peace, content, and happy. Because you lived and struggled to the fullest, didn’t you, Trang?

Simple and serene, without embellishment or empty ideals — that is how she expresses her choice to return:

“Sài Gòn, Sài Gòn… that place, these days, shines ever brighter with the mythical glow of a ‘North Star’ — a light of orientation that nothing can displace. My Sài Gòn — only when I turn to you, do I believe I will find the most steadfast and luminous journey of my life.”

Thinking of that, I felt a deep warmth in her decision to return to Sài Gòn, to the city streets where one can walk “with just a single peaceful step.” (excerpt from “Nothing to Regret”)

My son just said:

“Mom, you should also read Chapter II: Stories Along the Career Path — to better understand the field I’ve chosen. Ms. Trang is one of those who passed the flame on to me.”