365 Days of Gratitude: Day 4, from the air.

It is Day 4 I’m hurtling through the air late at night to go back home. I paid for inflight wifi in a feeble attempt to slide this in before the deadline for the day. I must admit here that January means the renewal of credit card airline credits, so I’m feeling spend-y (and grateful for them perks!).

 

On January 5th, 2020, I was grateful to spend time with family, and a very dear friend. I had good talks with my parents in the morning, and an excellent brunch with my cousin and aunts. My cousin took me to buy a good luck present for a Chinese superstition for my friend (If this sounds familiar it’s because it wasn’t my first merry-go-round. Peep the purchases from January 11th and 14th of last year.) Then we wandered a Chinese supermarket for snacks to fill my carry-on with (I’m sorry Audrey-from-Burke-Williams!) My mom baked me a last minute wheel of bread, and my cousin took me to see my friend on a pitstop to the airport.

 

LAX hit us with some horrendous traffic, and after losing more than 40 minutes to go .1mi in the car, my cousin convinced me to make a run for it. I booked it across the campus and right up to TSA. They flagged my bread wheel from my mom and a cough-suppressing, throat-soothing kumquat honey my cousin made and gifted me as “did you bring a bunch of cheese?” and I received a bag check. I was grateful I got to keep my yums. I blew right past my gate (the first one after security screening no less,) and power walked my belongings right up to the last gate of the terminal, then realized my mistake. I was grateful for the additional exercise. In the end I sat my butt down 9 minutes before take-off. I’m grateful to be going home!

 

Gratitude is a matter of perspective, and we don’t lose anything by trying on different outlooks. Onward, everyone!

365 Days of Gratitude: Day 3, or, Double Love.

Today I learned about Mini and Grandma’s (i.e. the mother of yours truly here) “double love”.

Side note: a bit of background, my late sister Amanda’s Chinese name, Wu Shuang, plainly translated, meant “no double”. The phrase derives from “tian xia wu shuang”, or, “sky, under, no, double”. This means, unparalleled, unlike any other. But from birth, Amanda’s nickname quickly became “shuang shuang” because of its cheery, melodic quality. (And if you think we didn’t make double-double jokes when we learned of In-n-Out, way ahead of ya!)

Bonus side note: yours truly was named Wu Hwa at birth (“no talent”), because for four and a half years following Amanda’s birth, many people pointed out the boastful nature of “no double” to Grandma, who subsequently opted to atone for that with my name. Fun fact.

Annyyywho, I’d arranged for Mini to spend some time with Grandma in December, and the two of them in that time together came to the most wonderful thing. They have decided they would each love the other one double: Grandma has always her love for Mini, and Grandma’s love for Amanda she now transferred to Mini. Conversely, Mini has also always loved Grandma, but now, her love for her mom she has also given onto Grandma.

It is simply the most lovely of coincidences that Amanda was already always Shuang Shuang (double-double), and now two souls once lost in the loss of her, have found they have twice the love for each other.

I am grateful I was lucky enough to witness this beautiful development. I can’t imagine ever not being in total awe of this, which has blossomed out of tragedy and trauma.

Today was a phenomenal day. Until tomorrow, lovies.

365 Days of Gratitude: Day 2.

This is a late entry for January 3rd, for which I missed the deadline by 2 hours and change (assuming midnight PST cutoff). In my defense I had gone out to dinner, then when I returned my mom practically met me at the door with cupping therapy in an effort to combat my cough from a recent cold. When the session concluded it was past 11p and I had to go to sleep to stop feeling excrutiating pain.

At any rate, I had much to be grateful for on January 3rd!

I saw this great sign from a church pronouncing inclusion

We went to a Korean supermarket and I found a convenient, ice cream’ed (as in, when they improve a well know sweet treat by pumping it full of ice cream) version of one of my favorite desserts.

Sushi of Gari in NYC has a brilliant taiyaki that they serve with matcha ice cream on the side. Not saying this is decidedly a better take but you CAN eat this without pants on and won’t have dishes to clean afterwards either

My cousin took me to Burke Williams and I had a real facial for the first time in my life. It was a great experience. I’m honestly too cheap and skiddish around strangers to make spa-going a habit, but I’m glad I exercised open-mindedness, had a good time, and was spoiled rotten for a spell! (I didn’t buy either of the products recommended by my aesthetician, either. I’m sorry Audrey! I need to save luggage space for food!)

Other highlights: I went to a place called Tpumps for the first time, and got to customize my own drink from start to finish!

We then went a few doors down (to Nothing Bundt Cakes) and purchased a dozen mini bundt cakes for my mom’s dinner party tomorrow night (tonight). This was another place I’ve never been before.

We had hotpot for dinner with my cousin’s lovely friend (creep her Insta here), and I ate my top favorite food basking in the company of wonderful women.

To top off my day, well, sadly I’ve not been rid of my cough but my mom tried and that’s what counts! See you in the next, kitty kats.

I’m trying… 365 Days of Gratitude!

2020 is going to be a year of gratitude, for me, and hopefully, many fortunate and introspective others.

I know, I know, I missed the first day of the year already. But fear not, thanks to February 29th, 2020, there are still 365 days to go (including today!).

Today I am traveling to SoCal to visit my parents. I am grateful for that!

I’m a touch under the weather.

Nightstand during recovery

(Yes, I am a horrible monster for getting on a plane, I’m sorry! I slept as much as I could and tried not to spread my germs any!)

But due to illness amplifying my innate laziness, I took out all the very little patience I have for packing by going single palette.

Ta-da!

Now, stay tuned for what I’m grateful for tomorrow! (Given that I’ve now arrived in southern California aka the land of plenty [of asian cuisine], I’m pretty sure it’ll be food.) Good bye for a day– (I hope), squirrel friends.

Holiday Gifting – Ground Rules

I meant to write this post earlier, but as I’ve procrastinated for such a long time we’re now fully living in the “holiday shopping season” so we just have to get basic here. Numbered lists are our friends.

1. Re-gifting is OKAY.

Repurposing a gift is just that: giving a present a new purpose. As long as you give it the same way you would a brand new, just bought present, that is, with greatest possible consideration for how the item fits into the life of the person you’re giving it to, then you’re golden. We should recognize that for all of our trying, often times another person gets it wrong about us, sometimes we even get it wrong about ourselves, and something we or they thought belongs in our lives, really doesn’t. If it fits better with another person, that’s where it ideally should go.

2. No shame in CASH game.

If you have money to spare for someone you know who can truly benefit, why should any party involved feel badly about that? If everyone you know has enough, donate in someone else’s name!

3. Like money, you can spend TIME.

A gift that costs your time is at least just as valid as one that cost your money. “Gift ideas” and “guides” are purely advertisements. There are no advertisements for homemade presents or time spent together doing something fulfilling and meaningful, because if everyone prioritized gifting loved ones our time, companies wouldn’t make money.

 

That’s all I wanted to share, now go and bask in the holiday spirit, squirrel friends.