This story comes from NPR’s Next Generation Radio project:
Phuong Palafox’s mother was a natural storyteller. When her mother died of cancer 20 years ago, Phuong took up the mantle of storytelling. She shares stories so her mom can live on.
Phuong is an educator, mother of three, Vietnamese refugee and author. Her debut children’s book, “Buoy,” was borne of her grief, and grief is the lens through which she views the world.
“So today, at this moment in time, as a 46-year-old woman, grief is a part of my every day. And I have befriended grief, and it is just as meaningful to me as joy and peace,” Phuong said. “And I think when you are grieving, the acknowledgement that it just exists and that it’s okay helps move you forward in this trajectory that I think brings levity … Grief keeps me steadied. And in that steadiness, it brings lightness to my days.”
In “Buoy,” she chronicled her family’s escape by boat from Vietnam during the war in 1978 – her mother pregnant with Phuong during the harrowing journey. It’s the family story she tells most often and credits as buoying all of her accomplishments in life.
