Shannon here: R.F. Whong shares the inspiration for her Creative Nonfiction Memoir, The Way We Forgive. You’ll find the link for a free download of My Journey into Writing Fiction in this post. Comment or answer the question in any post dated June 18th – 30th to enter the drawing for 3 other titles. Deadline: July 8th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s R.F.:
My Mother’s Jade Brooch
For three months after the funeral, the door to Mom’s room in our house remained closed. The silence held a heavy mixture of grief and self-reproach.
My father died early, and life had always been just the two of us—a widow and her daughter. I knew her sacrifices very well, yet our shared hot tempers often led to trivial arguments. In the rebellion of youth, her love felt like a constraint. Later, in the distance of adulthood, it became a silent, steady anchor.
After I got married and moved to the US, she split her time between her retirement home and our house. She was a force of nature and attacked housework and gardening with tireless energy. This vitality created an illusion of permanence in my mind. When the stroke took her, the suddenness haunted me. For weeks, the sound of footsteps at night turned out to be nothing but my futile hope.
Three months in, my first attempt to sort through her belongings ended in a drawer filled with half-used lipstick and familiar nail clippers. The questions remained: Was she lonely? Did she resent our petty arguments? Did she know that my drive to become a successful, self-reliant woman was the expression of my love for her?
By the eighth month, the healing power of time allowed for my second attempt. Inside a stack of winter clothes sat a yellow cotton-padded coat, which I’d purchased for her years ago in Hong Kong, but she’d never worn it. Tucked within its folds was a surprise: a jade brooch.
The jade was a long-ago gift from me—inexpensive and once the subject of an argument over “wasted money.” Yet, it had been transformed. She’d commissioned an exquisite, heavy gold inlay to encase the modest stone. Under the light, it shone with a brilliance far beyond its original value.
This brooch was the answer to every lingering question. She had meticulously preserved every gesture of affection. She knew I loved her, and through the gold-bound jade, she left an ultimate message: there was no need for regret.
Note: I wrote the above experience into my fiction-like memoir, The Way We Forgive.
Giveaway: My Journey into Writing Fiction
Note: To download this giveaway, you’ll need to sign up for my weekly newsletter.
Reader Question: Do you have someone in your life—mom, grandmother, aunt, church lady, teacher
—anyone who fed you, taught you, or loved you in quiet ways?
June Book Bundle #2
My Journey into Writing Fiction by R.F. Whong, to download this giveaway, you’ll need to sign up for my weekly newsletter
Romancing the Elements by Jenny Carlisle, Contemporary Romance Novella Collection, print
If I Perish by Paula K. Parker, Biblical Fiction, digital
Second Chances and Second Cups by Donna Schlachter, Short Story Compilation, print or digital
Author Ruth: Dr. Ruth Wuwong (PhD in biochemistry, MBA in finance) has published 120+ scientific books and papers (under her legal name) and a few Christian fiction books under R. F. Whong. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, a retired pastor. They served together at three churches from 1987 to 2020. Her grown son works in a nearby city.
She currently runs a small biotech company (www.vidasym.com) and has raised more than twenty million US dollars during the past few years for Vidasym.
In addition to her weekly newsletter and the platform (www.ruthforchrist.com), she is active in several writers’ groups, including ACFW, Word Weavers, Facebook, and Goodreads. Through these connections, she plans newsletter/promotion swaps with others and has writers endorse her books, write forewords, and host her on guest blogs.
Ruth was chosen as a featured author by the Minnesota Anoka County Library in 2025 and by the Suffolk Virginia Authors Festival in 2026.
One of her books, Echoes over Stormy Sea, has won a few awards, including being chosen by readers as a winner in the HOLT Medallion Contest. Learn more and connect:
Ruth’s Facebook Ruth’s Twitter Ruth’s Website
Ruth’s Linkedin Ruth’s Instagram Ruth’s Goodreads
About the book – The Way We Forgive:
Can a pastor’s wife learn to forgive? A story about forgiveness you will never forget.
Ruth’s life seems perfect. With a respectable job in a pharmaceutical conglomerate, a house in the Chicago suburbs, a caring pastor husband, and a well-behaved son, she’s a woman to emulate. When her widowed mother visits from Japan, she can no longer hide her irrational fear of death and her unforgiving heart. While both mother and daughter struggle with chronic diseases, Ruth’s new boss bullies her. Meanwhile, an anonymous letter accuses the pastor and his wife of grievous transgressions.
Unforeseen events force the family to reflect on redemption and reconciliation. Mom chooses to forgive her abusive stepmother, but Ruth can’t let go of bitterness and anger toward her aunt. As tragedy looms once more, can Ruth learn to forgive? Will she surrender her innermost dream?
Dive into a tale about forgiveness and transformation by R. F. Whong, named a Featured Author by the Minnesota Anoka County Library in 2025 and by the Suffolk Virginia Authors Festival in 2026.
The Way We Forgive – Book Trailer
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The Way We Forgive Ruth’s Books
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