What a coincidence!

My mom was just telling me what she was doing when she was my age last week as she celebrated her birthday.

So what were my parents doing at my age?

This picture was taken when my dad was around my age. I have no idea what he was doing but if I was old enough back then and knew what the future held for him, I would’ve told him to mind his heart health because that’s what will kill him in about 3 years.

My mom is 5 years younger than my dad, so I was old enough to have memories of what she was doing when she was at my age. She loves to tell that long and elaborate story to anyone who would listen. I never heard the whole story, at least not with all the minute details added to it. Her story is just like the movie Titanic. I’ve never managed to watch the entire movie. It’s too long and all the tiny details added too much fluff to the movie.

The same with her story, I know the gist of it – the beginning and the end. Actually, there is no end to her story because it’s still happening. The story began when she was my age with her decision to leave China for the US to start a new life.

It’s an impressive story if you think of it – learn a new language, start a couple of new jobs, go to college, marry to a new man, all the while, trying to migrate the daughter over the US.

Except, does she really must always relive it? Talk about it? Particularly with me?

Yes, I know she was suffering because she didn’t know the new language and she was desperate but I was suffering, too, while I was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. I was being shuttled around from relative to relative, depending on who’s willing to take me in. No one wanted me because I’m a girl and somehow gained a reputation of being this awful brat who’s in need of punishment. It was crazy how many times I was yelled at for something I didn’t do.

So yeah, we were both suffering in our own ways.