Growing kids

(Following a melancholic post on aging parents.... )

SW ate two Sausage McMuffins by himself this morning.  A few common phrases that always comes out of his mouth now are:

"Prove it!"

"How dare you."

"點解啊?"

and

"我重好肚餓啊!"

Aging Parents

Spent over an hour this morning trying to unravel a Fraud Alert on mom's credit card account.  On the phone, mom is adamant she doesn't recognize the charge... so the credit card company blocked the charge and issued mom a new card. 

After hanging up, I had the chance to sit down and unravel the entire mystery behind it.  And lo and behold... I don't think it a Fraud charge.... but mom was tricked into signing up for some subscription when she did her online purchasing.  Those websites can be so tricky... even for a seasoned user like myself.  An old lady that barely knows English doesn't stand a chance.

I didn't want to rip into mom.... she is just know venturing into online purchasing.  There's so much she doesn't know.  And with the world moving away from brick-n-mortar... she's gotta learn some day.  And this is what we're dealing with now.  Aging parents. 

Technology is moving so fast... how do they keep up??  And on the darker side... I have so many friends who's parents visit the clinic and hospital more frequent than I visit Costco.  My team seems like they take turn asking for personal time off to take their folks to this appointment or that appointment.  It's so surreal.....

Having a daughter... having a son

A daughter is one of the sweetest being in the world.  She'll come up to you for no reason and give you a hug, or a little kiss on the nose, or just curl up by your side, stick her cold, icy feet in between your thighs and read.

A son... on the other hand.... will climb onto your lap.  Sit down.  Fart.  Laugh.  Then run away.

No one teaches them these things.  And I'm so blessed to have both.

Looking back at 2017

I love writing this post.  It gives me a chance to look back at my posts and re-live the entire year.  Looking back at 2017.... here they are... as customary, Nuuuuuuuuuuuumber 10.........

10. Snow Trip Vindication -  Back in 2015, we took Nn and Sw to Palm Springs, hoping to play in snow.  We got all our gear...we dressed up... we bought the tram tickets.  Only to find out, due to the drought, there was no snow.  When we broke the bad news to Nn... all I can remember hearing was, "Awwww......"  That knife in the heart has been pulled, but the wound is slowly healing.

9. End Times are near - Irma, Harvey, wild fires in NorCal, SoCal, earthquakes... not to mention flooding right here in San Jose (1 mile from my church).  Not to mention a full solar eclipse where the sun turned to darkness.  Not to mention re-establishing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel (oh yes... that's coming).  Jonah got Nineveh to repent, not cuz of the words he uttered, but cuz of the signs that preceded him. 

8. End Times are here...? - "Covfefe?" "Fake News?" Record breaking attendance at the Inauguration? Only to be bested by REAL record breaking attendance for March on Washington. Trial and failure to repeal ObamaCare (God bless you Senator McCain) only to see the beginnings of Reaganomics 2.0.  Members of the Cabinet rotating like a revolving door.  I still can't figure out 51% of the country.... 

7. CNY2017 - it never turns out the way you imagine.  And it never goes as bad as you would think.  But the fact of the matter is... CS attendance was highest in 2017, the day AFTER CNY Night Market.  A resounding uproar to keep this format.... but little do they know.... 

6. Ep 8 - The Last Jedi - waited 2 whole years.  And the week it comes out, the family gets hit with a stomach virus.  I famously lost 7 lbs in one day from diarrhea, and I still went out to the city to watch it with Geoff and Anderson.  In the end, it really wasn't about the movie... it was about making and keeping a promise with my best buds.

5.  Redemption - 2016 Father's Day goes down as the one of the worst ones ever.  That pain (like the pain of 2002, or the pain I still have from SB47) will never be healed.  But this one helped.  It would've helped more if we could've gone 16-0.  But that's being too selfish now, aren't we?

4.  Departure from Eden - Two months since the handover... and I love it!!!  I should've handed this over years ago!! Sometimes the biggest act of love...is learning to let go.  

3. SW lands in the ER - In 2015, Nn landing in the ER took first place.  Why does SW only get 3rd? Probably cuz I was the one who cut up NN's finger.  But it was mom who fed him that cashew? Or deep down, we knew that SW was going to be fine.... praise God for His protection. 

2. 塞翁失馬焉知非福 - 3 separate full day on-sites. Not to mention the countless phone / pre-on-site interviews.  Every time... I feel like I creamed it.  And each time, I'm met with disappointment and depression.  I still can't come to grips that there are people who don't want to hire me.  It makes me feel a bit better if I tell myself, "I'm overqualified" But there's that one side of me that says, "You're a failure."   

1. NY/DC vacation with Dad - There are too many moments in the East Coast trip that caps off 2017.  But the one moment that takes the crown of the vacation, the one moment that stands head and shoulders above all other moments has gotta be the night we land at NYC and have dinner with the Leung family.  As Dom Toretto says in Fast and Furious, "It's all about family.........."  

Onto 2018.....