Aching for Life

Grandpa passed away last week. I won't be able to attend the funeral in LA, and so I'm preparing a note for one of my sisters to read at the memorial service. And so I've been thinking about his life - the wars he lived through, his days as a general, fighting through bleak, cold winters (and the many impatient hours I spent with him half-listening to his stories); his arrival to the States, his years working humbly as a custodian, though he had been a headmaster in Hong Kong. He had a temper - I saw that a little bit, but mostly heard about it from my father and my aunts and uncles. He made mistakes as a husband and as a father, but he also quietly bore with much. He loved to write. When we were younger, we would write letters to him and receive responses in his trembling, austere script.  He did calligraphy as well. They were never as good as those of my maternal grandpa's, but they were far better than anything we could hope to aspire to.  When I was taking phot

In my Form 4 (10th grade) English class, we've been watching The Blind Side . Even though I've watched it multiple times, there is one scene that always hits me. Leigh Anne sets up a bedroom for Michael and Michael says, "I've never had one before." Leigh Anne says, "What, your own room?" Michael says, "No, a bed." Leigh Anne tears up and quickly leaves the room. What hit me about this scene is not that I teared up with Leigh Anne. Rather, it's that I didn't. I am stunned that her heart can be so wrenched by the thought that a boy would grow up without a bed that she starts crying, because I am unmoved. My dear Form 4 girls told me after watching this movie that it was too touchy-feely, and asked that we stop watching Hollywood-feel-good movies. Being smart, worldly young people, they are suspicious of emotionalism and bored with good people. They have a point, of course. Much of the pathos in the movie is not subtly presented,

Dr Tom As you can tell, I (Bea) have been spending a lot of time lately going through our wedding photos and editing them and picking ones out to post and eventually to put in an album. It's been fun to do it - reliving some wonderful days six months down the road. But it also caused me to feel the same anxious insecurity with my options and choices and gnawing obsession with comparing that plagued me throughout the wedding planning months. I thought after a wonderful day of worshiping and committing ourselves to God and each other, an unforgettable honeymoon, and months of deep enjoyment of being my husband's companion would put to sleep all those concerns about superficial things - the dress, the hair, the pictures, the decor. But going through pictures made the horrible questions of "what if" flare up in full force. I looked at friends' wedding pictures on Facebook, and wished our photographers had captured moments like those in these other albums, giving

Finally getting some time to breathe. We are almost done with grad school apps! Just one more day to go. Here are some more pictures from the day. Ta da!  Reception - grand entrance. Funny kids :) Cutting Veronica's awesome cake! Hugging the baker More funny kids 07 joy Look at this one of us and the 07 girls, obligingly posing. Now see what the 07 boys were doing Katherine, Bui and Emily! Waiting... And waiting... Attacked by lavender! Our beautiful ushers