The mothers in law I knew

Tui có nhiều bạn có con trai lớn, có gia đình nhưng tui chưa từng thấy những sự xung khắc quá đáng như nhũng bài viết trong đây.

1. Bà bạn thứ nhất tên M. Từ khi con bã còn học trung học, bã lúc nào cũng tuyên bố là nếu con bã có lấy vợ, bã vẫn giũ nó ở nhà. Thằng con bã năm nay 34 tuổi có vợ con đàng hoàng, vẫn ở chung với bã. Nhà bã rộng, nhường hết cho con và dâu ở, phần bạn tui chỉ ở một phòng nhỏ xíu phía sau. Bạn tui thích trồng cây, tui nói "vườn nhà mày rộng, tha hồ trồng trọt" Nó nói "ý, đâu có được, con tao nó không cho, nó nói phải để sân cỏ cho con nó chơi".

Tui thấy bã sữa nhà, mua cái bếp Viking khổng lồ, tui hỏi :"mày mua lò bự như dzị làm chi?" "Tai con dâu tao nó muốn tao phải mua cho nó." Wow

Bã có chiếc xe Mercedes, hai vợ chồng ông con chiếm hết garage, để mẹ đậu xe ngoài đường.

Nhà bạn tui ở LA, mỗi tuần bã lặn lội qua San Gabriel mua nghêu sò cho con trai & con dâu ăn.



2. Bà bạn thứ nhì tên H. Con dâu bã ở chung với gia đình cả chục năm nay chả có gây gỗ gì ráo, nhiều lúc bã còn theo con dâu la con trai bã nếu thằng con làm gì quấy.



3. Bà thữ ba có hai con trai, cùng có vợ. Bà này mặc dù không ưa cô con dâu thứ nhì nhưng cũng không nói ra, lâu lâu chỉ than với tui là con nhỏ con nhà giàu, tối ngày đi shopping . Bã thương và phục cô con dâu lớn vì cô này nấu ăn giỏi, làm việc lương cao

I went to her funeral

I called my friend Susan and asked if she would attend Ching's funeral or not. She said she is geting ready to go and asked if I want to ride with her. It was such a good offer I could not resist.
We left at 1:20 Monday afternoon and drove to the funeral home where they are having the memorial at 2 PM. We arrived just time to say hello to her husband and her daughter. Then we went inside the chapel and waited. I went up to view the casket and there lied Ching. Her face looked so grim and hr hands are pale and tiny. They dressed in her Chinese vest which I remeber she wore it during one Chinese New Year. As I said my last goodbye to her, I tried to hold my tears because I knew if I start crying I would not stop. Guests slowly come in to fill the chapel. Her relative from Taiwan came. One woman really cried.
To open the memorial, her daughter Michelle got up and said the eulogy , telling us how she was. And then the funeral director went on to conduct the ceremony.

a death of a friend

I was watching the late night news with my husband. There was the news that they found a death Asian woman, 55 year old on Sun Shine Lane. I told my husband: "It sounds like Fern, but that could not be because i jsut saw her screenname on my AIM." But I was so curious, wanting to know who is that Asian woman.

My fear ws confirmed. the next morning, A mutual friend called and told me a bad news that Ching had died. So that woman was my friend Ching. I was told that she fell off the peer behind her house, hit something and had a concuscion then drowned.
I was so sad. I've known Ching for so many years. She was my bank customer. She and her husband own and operate the strip mall on hwy 98. Being Asian, we were attracted to each other although she was rich and I was not so wealthy. She likes to invite me to her parties . She liked to learn how to make salad rolls, Vietnamese styles. I told her to get some Rice papers and she did. she showed them to me the last time I was at her home. I told her that I will come over to show her how. I am thinking about that package of rice paper sitting in her pantry and will neve be used. Ching often told me that I ought to take her to Vietnam with me somedays. Now that someday will never come, she's gone.
I just could not get off my mind that how stupid this death can be. People can be killed during war, in the middle of the gun fire, air plane crash, or illness. But, drowning behind your own home? Noway!!

I checked with her husband , he was not there to answer the phone. He is waiting for his daughter to come back from Australia to have the funeral.
When someone close to you died, you always wish that you have done something different. I wish that I have taken her to my Vietnamse restaurant to have some Pho together.
Will Ching's death teach me any lesson? I doubt it. I will still promiss to some friends and never show up.

3 days in the hospital

Never thought I would spend my time in a hospital, but I did.
It started with a back pain, so I told myself " This must be my kidney stone trying to pass". I drank lots of water but that night I got a fever. took two Tylanol and both fever and back pain were gone . Went to see doctor as i was still feeling lousy. that afternoon, my toes started feeling numb and cols. Went for a swim but could not swim more than 4 laps. Whenever my toes touched the pool floor, I felt nothing but pain. Got out of the pool but could not hoist myself up, my husband had to pull me out.
At 4 PM, I told him that I need to go to the Emergency.
There, they found that I was terribly dehydrated. I had to go through a battery of tests which revealed that I have many kidney stones on both kidneys (Yike), that I was low on platelet counts .

I ws admitted to the hospital and for 3 days, I was given IV with antibiotics and platelet on the last day.

It ws not too bad to be in the hostpital except that it ws so noisy. AS I was drifting in and out of my sleep (they woke meup every 3 hours to take blood) I sensed something familiar. The noise, the air conditioner, my back ache. Then it dawned on me that this reminded me of my time on the train in VN.

My first room mate ws an elderly lady who came fom a nursing home. She was moved to othr hospital as she need physical therapy. The next one ws a fat woman who came in for some kind of surgery. She ws pretty loud with so many relatives. Thank God, she requested to be in her own room. Thought I would be all by myself in that room but that did not last long.
the next day they wheeled in a 80 year old woman whose knees gave in on her. She was pretty heavy so the nurses got a hard time to move hr around. She ws also loud and her nurse's voice also drove me nuts.