佩碧姨

There are certain people in our lives that are so intertwined with your family tree... that it's impossible to untie this Gordian Knot or 情義結.  

A month ago... mom found a way to meet up with 佩碧姨 and 德霖叔.  Dad got jealous so we had another rendezvous with them. The stories were fascinating. How they escaped from China as political refugees. How they struggled in HK... became friends from simply eating dinner together a few times.  How 德霖叔 was so poor... they didn't have any money to attend Big Bro's 滿月酒.  

Then when we arrived in San Francisco... how mom singlehandedly rescued their child from systemic child abuse.  How they bought us our first Christmas presents... drove us everywhere on weekends... bought us Castle Grayskull from Toys R Us.  There is no one in this world we or they...are more indebted to.  At my college graduation... I didn't invite any one, except for 佩碧姨.  When Alfred got married... we sat in the head family's 2nd table.  When 佩碧姨's friend wanted to visit Cal Poly... I dropped EVERYTHING to give them a self-guided tour of campus.  When dad was going through financial hardships... they didn't even ask and came out with an envelope of cash. 

In this day and age... when hardships are no more than "stress at work" or "traffic was horrible. Friendships like this don't happen anymore.  The ties with this family is intricate... extravagant... and legendary.