Kee Park Family/CHET DOL

Kee and his family came as returning volunteers. He is a neurosurgeon and does volunteer work around the world and has been here several times working with the residency program. Kee comes from a medical family and grew up in New Jersey. As a Korean-American he speaks fluent Korean, as does his lovely wife Susan, who grew up in Philadelphia. Sophie is 12, Camille is 10 and Isabelle celebrated her first birthday with us. This is a beautiful family and they won the hearts of everyone. They are special friends to Barbara and me, and we’re anxious for them to come back for a longer assignment. Kee, Phil, and Ted are all spine surgeons and rendered a lot of teaching to the neurosurgical residents. Kee also did extensive brain surgery. He was a busy boy.
    Korean tradition has it that the first-year birthday (called the CHET DOL) is worthy of a big celebration, at which time the future profession of the child is predicted. Guests come with gifts to honor the child. The young Koreans here made arrangements at the Rainbow Korean Restaurant on the other side of town for the event, where approximately 50 attended. A wonderful buffet meal and music and song by the young Koreans preceded the celebrated ceremony. An array of items was placed on the table and the item she would choose would predict what she will be when she grows up: a spool of thread (seamstress/tailor), pencils (a scholar), microphone (a singer), a Bible (a preacher), stethoscope (a physician), money (a rich investor). Traditional Korean dress was called for. So they dressed Isabelle in the traditional Korean dress with bonnet and held her close to the presented items. With a lot of cheering from the audience and several attempted reaches by Isabelle, she chose the pencils. She follows her sisters, Sophie and Camille, who had chosen the pencils at their Chet Dol. It looks like we’re going to have a lot of intellectual ladies in the future. It was a special evening and we felt honored to be included in their celebration.
    Their trip was cut short when Camille became ill and had to be air-evacuated home for evaluation. The report is that she is doing well, and the prognosis is good. We are all relieved and look forward to their next visit. (See slideshow in sidebar.)
-- Don