Presents For Chinese New Year's // equivocality

Posted in: Daily Life, Photo/Misc

This week, I received a small package from Brenda and Jack.

It really touched me. Not because of the amount of things in it, but because of what was in it.

A T’ai Chi handbook. Dark, thin chocolates; my favourite kind. A chopstick rest in the shape of a cat. They even put money in a red envelope, following the Chinese tradition of wedded couples giving money to the unmarried. Everything in a red bag with red wrapping paper, the Chinese colour of luck. This isn’t their culture, but they’ve made the effort to understand it. They probably had to go out of their way to find this stuff, things which aren’t available just anywhere.

I’ve done nothing to deserve this.

The funny thing is that Brenda and Jack are the parents of an ex. I can hear John warning me, “They laced the chocolates with arsenic”. I’ve been fortunate enough to get along with the parents of many of my girlfriends. I used admit to Pat that I wish they could replace my own.

It made me wonder if sometimes, in the back of my mind, I would stay in those relationships because of them.

These are people who know me and my interests.

More than my own parents ever did.

3 comments — Follow the feed

#1Xibee

How true…. surrogate parents have always been a plus in my experience. I miss one of my ex’s moms in particular. I miss the ex often, but with pangs of sadness at his foolishness. I miss his mum unconditionally.

Your friends didn’t notice the difference in the chopsticks and cat, which are more Japanese really, but it’s a lovely thought that counts. And lai-see too!

#2Jeff

Caring about someone unconditionally is a very foreign idea to me. What if they hurt you? How could you still care? I think I’m the only one who doesn’t get this. Many people I’ve asked say that they’d still love their child if they grew up to be a mass murderer.

I knew that the relatively sharp point of the chopsticks make them more of a Japanese style, but I never realized that the chopstick rest was as well until you mentioned it. I thought of all the Chinese chopstick rests I’ve used, and they’re more function over form; none of them have been in the shape of an animal, which is a much more Japanese thing to do.

Your knowledge of the Asian cultures never ceases to impress me.

#3Bronwen

awww, I’ m crying in the library right now because of this post. I really loved it and you deserve everything. My parents care for you because they see the good in you and see how happy you make me OH, and not to mention the fact that my mom loves it when you poke fun at me….