Remembrance

When I was in graduate school in Syracuse, New York, that was the longest stretch of time that I had been away from my family. I moved there in July 2007, and it was around September and Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, that my mom called me.  I remember her telling (reminding) me it was Mid-Autumn Festival, when we usually had family reunion dinners and ate moon cakes together. She told me to go to the window and look out to see if I could see the moon, and I recall that being a tender, intimate moment, and I’m not sure I thought this at the time, but years later, I think it was because she missed me. I remember being homesick, but the call made me realize how much I missed her, too.  I feel grateful to have had that moment and memory, because as the years have passed, and whenever I’d been away from my mom for long, and especially since her death, I could look up at the moon and feel close to her again, as if she was right there with me. I hope to leave a similar remembrance for JJ, so when I am long gone, they can look to something that will remind them that I will always be there with them in spirit.