My dad puts marmalade on his turkey sandwiches. Continue reading “Chinese-American Dad”
Category: Family
Little Children
Earlier this evening an old friend of my parents joined us for dinner at Grandpa’s house. My parents told her not to bring any dishes – Grandpa doesn’t each much and they’d cooked enough to ensure leftovers for at least two more meals – but Mrs. R– hopped in ten minutes late carrying a big pot of “lion head” meatballs and a smaller platter of stir-fried cucumber and sliced fish cakes. Continue reading “Little Children”
Marry Me, Maybe?
An essay I began back when I was unemployed.
My mother is worried.
“If you find a job,” she says, “Then you can get engaged soon after.” Continue reading “Marry Me, Maybe?”
My Father, King of Spam and Inattention
A few days ago, my father sent the following email to myself and a handful of other people:
My father is the King of Email Spam, known throughout the whole family as the guy who grants every email equal attention, no matter what the message or who its sender. Continue reading “My Father, King of Spam and Inattention”
K.T. Ho’s Thursday Thoughts
Most of my readers know my dad pretty well by now, either because you’re family, friends, or you’ve read my blog for sometime, in which my dad often appears. He’s incapable of crying and still, despite all my explaining, doesn’t understand why anyone would be interested in the stuff I write (“Why the hell would anyone want to read about your family?”), but he’s also a huge reason I am the way I am. Uncomplicated but not simple, the strong but far from silent type. Continue reading “K.T. Ho’s Thursday Thoughts”
How to Win Friends and Influence People Like My Mother Does
My mother has a boyfriend.
“His name is José,” she says, slowing pulling the car into the parking lot of the golf club in the hills behind our house. We are headed for the driving range. “I wonder if he’ll be there today. He always drives up in his little maintenance cart and goes, ‘Ooooliviaaaaa! Ooooliviaaaa!’ And then he gives me free balls.”
“Why?”
She shrugs, “He just likes me a lot.”
Continue reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People Like My Mother Does”
My Parents Are in Canada
My mom has a problem. Maybe it’s a motherly thing, where in conversations you let your daughter go on and on about her trip to London and Italy and then her weekend plans (to DC! For Tom’s nephew’s second birthday) and when she finally asks you how you’re doing, time is running short and you can’t say much so you just nod, “Fine, fine, everything’s good,” and then your daughter, being satisfied that she’s caught her mother up on her life and, it seems, vice versa, decides there really isn’t anything else to say so you both happily hang up.
Except my parents are now in Canada. Continue reading “My Parents Are in Canada”
An Update From My Mother
My mother called today with some urgency in her voice. I braced myself. She has a tendency to begin good and bad news in the same ominous way: “I have something to tell you,” she said. Continue reading “An Update From My Mother”
A Note on my Mother
I don’t often write about my mother, but birth and mothers go hand-in-hand and both days are upon us. Continue reading “A Note on my Mother”
A Wedding, A Concert, Anxiety
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| In case you were wondering what an “obstructed view” at Carnegie Hall looks like. |
Last weekend, Tom and I went to California for a wedding. Continue reading “A Wedding, A Concert, Anxiety”
VERY HIGHBROW 