Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Friday, September 16, 2016
60
Today is my mom's 60th birthday. Six-O. The fact that our parents age at the same rate we do never fails to astound me that. Our parents sometimes seem so timeless -- when you see someone everyday for eighteen years, the changes slip by seamlessly. However as I enter more into adult life and see my parents less (I wish the two didn't go hand and hand), I've finally begun to register the differences with each visit -- my parents are growing older.
I've always been a rebellious child, especially toward my mother, who took on the louder voice in our household growing up, as Chinese mothers do. She wanted me to practice violin, so I played drums. She wanted me to play tennis, so I played volleyball. She wanted me to go to medical school, so I studied engineering. She wanted me to go to Case Western, so I want to Northwestern. In each scenario, perfecting the reasoning in my head for why my decision was correct and most important, hers was wrong.
I still stand by many of the those decisions and even the logic behind them. The difference between 24 year old me and 18 year old me is that I've begun to see her reasoning behind many of her decisions -- begun being the keyword. I admit that I'm still just as stubborn as I was in middle school. I do not regret not going to medical school, but seeing so many of my college friends in their white coats, I see a glimpse of the bigger picture that she saw as she let me attend Northwestern for engineering.
A wise friend once told me, "I don't think anyone can fully understand the depth of the cross until they have a child." Some days I just want to hang up the phone and not talk to my mom. We are both stubborn as they come. But I cannot say that I've haven't been so blessed to be able to have a mother as loving as my mom, and I'm sure I'll never know how hard it was to parent me.
I've always been a rebellious child, especially toward my mother, who took on the louder voice in our household growing up, as Chinese mothers do. She wanted me to practice violin, so I played drums. She wanted me to play tennis, so I played volleyball. She wanted me to go to medical school, so I studied engineering. She wanted me to go to Case Western, so I want to Northwestern. In each scenario, perfecting the reasoning in my head for why my decision was correct and most important, hers was wrong.
I still stand by many of the those decisions and even the logic behind them. The difference between 24 year old me and 18 year old me is that I've begun to see her reasoning behind many of her decisions -- begun being the keyword. I admit that I'm still just as stubborn as I was in middle school. I do not regret not going to medical school, but seeing so many of my college friends in their white coats, I see a glimpse of the bigger picture that she saw as she let me attend Northwestern for engineering.
A wise friend once told me, "I don't think anyone can fully understand the depth of the cross until they have a child." Some days I just want to hang up the phone and not talk to my mom. We are both stubborn as they come. But I cannot say that I've haven't been so blessed to be able to have a mother as loving as my mom, and I'm sure I'll never know how hard it was to parent me.
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