>Sketch Every Day: 5.31.11

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I can’t believe how quickly this month has flown by. Seems like just yesterday I was driving to pick up my mom from the airport for her annual visit from Taiwan. And somehow, in the blink of an eye, a month has flown by and she’s leaving tomorrow! I realize it’s been an extremely busy wedding season and there has been a lot going on with work, school, family activities and events. But how can it be that my mom’s visit is over? I’m not ready for her to go home.

A-Ma’s first trip to San Francisco.

In San Francisco’s Chinatown…

The boys and A-Ma walking through Chinatown.

It’s been so wonderful having her here, she’s a HUGE help to me and is the type of person who’s always keeping busy (hmmm, that’s where I get it). She can whip up a delicious, seven course, authentic Chinese meal in a flash; wrangle up the grandkids and keep up with the laundry in an seemingly effortless way (that I still haven’t figured out); she’s helped me assemble wedding ensembles late into the evenings so that I could meet my countless deadlines; she’s been an energetic participant and “trouper” for all our social excursions (we dragged her along for a long drive, but short visit, to San Francisco), neighborhood gatherings (dinner parties and babysitting so we could go to a few parties), kids’ school events (including Open House and my nephew’s Middle School Promotion).  She’s a machine…a firecracker…a 5′ 3″ Taiwanese powerhouse…she’s AMAZING and she’s my mom.  

A sampling of my mom’s home-cooked Taiwanese food.

Yes, those are homemade dumplings (upper left).

I miss her already and I wish I could just move her in or afford to buy her a house really close to us. A 14 hour flight, half way around the world, is too far away for “A-Ma” (Grandma in Taiwanese) to be. I know she needs to be close to our family over in Taiwan, especially to help care for her mother (our A-Ma), whose health is declining. But I just want my mom closer than a long-distance phone call away. My mom isn’t on facebook, she doesn’t go online or read blogs, she doesn’t know how to email…nor does she have a computer or an email address. Sending pictures or letters in the mail or talking over the phone is the only way she is able to keep up with what’s going on with her three daughters and five grandkids over here. So I really treasure these visits we have with her and truly appreciate all that she does for all of us. It makes me so happy to see her with her five grandkids, she loves them all so much and they absolutely adore her. My sketch today is supposed to be a “group hug” with A-Ma in the middle surrounded by her five kiddos: Tyan, Maylie, Mason, Paige and Isaac.  I know it doesn’t look like any of them (I scribbled it really quickly), but to me, the feeling is there.