Day 22 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I got sidetracked by Gia Carangi’s story enroute here. What a sad tale about a beautiful woman who had it all in a couple years and to lose it all equally fast. Then to die of AIDS at age 26. It sucked the energy right out of me. I could have done without the story. I am so easily sidetracked. I am so human. Not much will power today.

But if I was having coffee with my mother, her stories would be more uplifting even if they were sad. I never get tired of her stories no matter how many times I have heard them. I’ve learned alot about our family’s and China’s history from her stories. There were stories of hardships during the Japanese invasion. Then there were the times of Mao’s communism when my grandfather escaped with his life to Hong Kong. My grandmother was arrested and jailed in his place. Too many stories of that time to recount here today. My mother and her siblings always talk about those times whenever we visited them in New York City.

She has happy stories, too, of them growing up. There were 7 of them. My aunt was the oldest, followed by 3 brothers, then my mother and then 2 more brothers. I think that my aunt had the best childhood, being in peace time and no wars. She had more schooling. My mother was not so lucky. She loved school but only got to grade 3 because of the Japanese invasion. My grandfather was a teacher and principal of the school. He was also the mayor of the village. Because of that some people who were jealous accused him of corruption when the opportunity came.

When my grandmother was dying, she was angry with him. Because of his work, she had to suffer. I think she was 71. She had lung cancer. She and my grandfather were in New York then. I missed the funeral. I was in Saskatoon going to university. My mother said the funeral procession was very long.