The news: you are coming!

Dear Baby,

When I saw the dark line on the stripe, I went to get your dad. He was buried in the big couch watching the Lakers game on TV. I told him to come with me. “No no no no,” he didn’t move his eyes away from the TV, “Only one minute left in the game.” He was struggling with me as I dragged him to the bedroom: “Only one minute left. Please, just one minute!” I showed him the test result. “Oh, you are pregnant! I told you so!” before he uttered the last word, he was running back to his Lakers’ game.

Next, I called the doctor’s office. The lady told me I was pregnant in a monotone voice, after putting me on hold for about 5 minutes. I hung up the phone and called your dad. He said, "Oh, yeah, of course, I knew you were pregnant." Then I sat there, staring at the screen for a little bit. For the whole week, I felt nausea, dizziness and fatigue. I became a little annoyed at you. “Come on, be a good baby,” I touched my belly, “don’t be too hard to your mom.” Obviously you didn’t hear me, ‘coz I didn’t feel any better -J

My mom, your grandma was the happiest person to hear the news. She sighed with relief: “It’s about time. I had you when I was thirty, and you are the youngest.” Then she asked me what I wanted to eat. I really had no appetite at all, but out of nowhere, I remembered a flour bun soup I had when I was a kid. So I told her I wanted that.

At the dinner table, I tried one sip of my soup and complained it was nothing like what I had in my memory. “Maybe we don’t have the right type of flour,” my mom said, apologetically. I turned around and looked at her. Suddenly I was hit by sadness. She looked so old, standing next to the sink, waiting nervously to hear my comment of the soup. Her face was filled with deep wrinkles, and the hair color dye couldn’t cover all of her gray hair anymore. I had remembered when I was so sad that my mom was getting old as I grew up, now I am so used to seeing her as an old woman. I told her she cooked terrible food, puts too much salt, and she was always forgetful. I hate that she used an old wash rag to clean the countertop instead of a clean sponge or paper towels. I used to love my mom like she wass the only thing in this world to me! I looked at my mom. Memory brought me back to that Spring afternoon when my mom took me to my grandparents’ home. That was one of my happiest memories I had when I was living in the village. Yes, many many years ago, when my mom still had smooth, glowing skin, when she had long black hair flowing like a waterfall, when she was an attractive young woman, in a sunny, warm, breezy Spring afternoon, she held my hands, walked to my grandparent’s house.

It was such a beautiful day. The birds were chirping, the flowers were blooming, the chicken, ducks were aimlessly roaming around the road. The villagers greeted each other from far away, laughing together loudly. My mom and I walked along the river, across the bridge, climbed the hills, and passed several villages. My mom waved at the peasants who were working in the fields. “Busy?” She raised her voice and smiled at them. “No, busy doing nothing.” They would stand up, wipe their faces with the sleeves and greet her back. When she stopped to talk to somebody, I would grab the corner of her shirt and look around. My mom said I was always a curious child. One time her friend pointed at me, “Is this your youngest? She is so big already!” My mom looked down at me. She touched my head. “Yes,” she said, her voice was so gentle and sweet, “this is my favorite baby. She is big now! Time flies!” She messed up my hair a little. I felt her big, warm hands. I giggled, leaned closer to her. I don’t know why I remember this, but I just remember it, remember in that beautiful Spring afternoon, I was the happiest 5 year old girl, held my mom’s hand, talked and smiled to the people in the whole world.

Dear Baby, someday I will be old, just like your grandma. I will be nagging and annoying. Baby, I just want to you know, at one point of time, your mom is a pretty, lovely young woman. She talks a lot, she laughs, she is mean sometimes, but she is true to her friends. She is clumsy, she breaks stuff all the time, she is lazy but she is fun and playful. She enjoys annoying your dad, but she kisses him while he is sleeping. Oh, before I forget, she does curse and cry sometimes-J