Chopstick envy
We went out to see my mom this past weekend for two reasons:
-
- The first was that it would be the last time for the kid to see his cousins for the rest of the summer and they wanted to hang.
- But the second was that my mom’s getting older and that’s something that I’m only now really seeing/accepting.
So, I’m trying to see and talk to her as long as I can.
When my dad passed, I saw him age in front of me as the cancer took away the energetic man I knew my whole life.
I’m always been accused of dying my hair (the white hairs I have belie this accusation), but my dad had pretty black hair until the cancer and the treatments squeezed every last bit of life outta him.
Sorry, I was telling you about my weekend.
This always happens. Don’t mind me.
So, yeah, I went out to see my mom this week.
My mom was at church in the AM, and my sis was busy so Sara, the kid, and I took the train out to Flushing and decided to head over to the New World Food Mall on Main Street, which is always a good time.
It was supposed to thunderstorm that day but the day we went, the weather was just perfect.
I always over-order food as I forget that, while the kid loves to eat like I do, he’s still a kid and can only physically eat so much.
Like Sara, he’s been on a hand-pulled noodle kick lately.
Me: You really want noodles on a day as hot as today?
Him: Yeah!
Me: (sigh) OK, guess I’m having carbs.
This is the auntie cooking up his food.
I kinda want a pair of chopsticks that long.
Chopstick envy, I suppose.
Sara, meanwhile, got herself a Beijing savory crepe called a jianbing.
Below is a video I found showing how it’s made.
Sara: Oh, my guy made mine much prettier.
She wasn’t wrong, it looked and tasted amazing.
She only had half, and my kid only had half of his meal so I ended up eating what they couldn’t, which is what I wanted as I didn’t wanna haul food around with me on a hot summer day.
We ended up taking the bus to my mom’s because we still needed to kill an hour and because the kid wanted to ride it.
We got to my mom’s where the kid lived his best life.
Him: Can I get wet?
Me: Well, I guess if…
Him: YAY, thanks, papa! (runs off)
Me: (to myself) …you can maybe get some clothes from auntie.
The other amazing thing was that my sister found this briefcase that I’d not seen in decades.
I realize now that it was my dad’s go-bag of important documents – you know, birth certificates, deeds, passports, etc.
Finding stuff from my dad is like finding treasure these days.
It’s funny, when your dad’s alive a stack of papers is just a stack of papers but once he’s gone, dude…
But that’s a whole entry of its own so I’ll tell you about more of that some other time.
For now, I got to see my mom.
I don’t put up pictures of her for two reasons: (a) I wanna respect her privacy but also because (b) while I still find her beautiful, the woman I see isn’t what I see in my head when I think of her.
That’s also a story for another time.
We ended the evening with dinner, where I got my usual huge platter of Greek food before heading back.
When we finally got home, we got the absolute worst surprise waiting for us – which is why I didn’t post this past Sunday.
I’ll tell you all about it in the next entry.
Location: my pad, unfortunately
Mood: grossed out…so, so, so, so grossed out
Music: you’re not wanted anywhere (Spotify)
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