In this episode of SeongLife, Daniel Seong and Christina Seong start with twenty-one years in Irvine: the condo they bought for $649,000 that goes for about $1.2 million now, a police department that sends SWAT and K-9 units to a domestic call, and why they probably will not retire there. Then Daniel brings up a video he cannot shake. A Korean father in his 60s with six months to live visits more than 100 homes before he finds one he trusts with his disabled son. That pulls Christina back to her pregnancy with Leah, when an ultrasound found a bubble in the baby's brain, and to the two weeks of hospital bed rest that followed. It lands on the line she repeats to their kids: not I have to, I get to.
3 Key Listener Takeaways
1. Perspective Turns "I Have To" Into "I Get To"
Christina says she could make a list of everything she is stressed about, and an equally long list of everything she is thankful for. Caring for her parents, raising five kids, and helping run the business are things she still gets to do. Daniel's mother tells her she must have no stress at all, which he points out is only true because Christina never lets it show.
2. That Father Visited More Than 100 Homes
Daniel describes a Korean father in his 60s with late-stage liver cancer and six months left, whose entire remaining mission was placing his disabled son somewhere safe. He checked the meals, the other residents, the facility itself, more than 100 visits while he was in pain. The clip ends with him waving at a van and holding it together until it turns the corner.
3. Nobody Knows Until It Is Their Own Decision
Both hosts refuse to say what they would do if a prenatal test came back with bad news, and they refuse to judge anyone who decides differently. Christina's scare with Leah is as close as she has come: a bubble in the brain on an ultrasound, genetic testing, two weeks of hospital bed rest starting at 31 weeks. Leah is 17 now and healthy.
Show Overview
00:00 Why stress can be a privilege
01:13 Twenty years of watching Irvine grow
06:00 Six figures counts as low income here
08:12 The $649,000 condo that is $1.2 million now
10:29 SWAT shows up for a domestic call
13:21 Great Park and a shameless plug
14:31 Finish the sentence: adulting is
17:27 A Korean father with six months to live
20:33 The van turns the corner
22:17 The baby box in Korea
24:29 Natalie's surgery and the hospital floor
28:16 Over 100 homes before he chose one
31:11 The bubble they found in Leah's brain
36:31 I have to versus I get to
38:39 A 112 degree week in Irvine