Family

It was before breakfast on Saturday and Zuhua came to my room and announced that the three of us were going out for breakfast. We went to the same place that we went to last Saturday. It is a large, awesome place to eat across town from where we live. It is very popular because the food is so good and the prices so reasonable. The three of us really enjoyed the variety of food that was served and the time together.

After breakfast we drove back to a spot near where we live to visit Zuhua’s mother, who is my age. She is the only one living of the four parents and has lived in that apartment for a long time. It is where Zuhua lived when she was young and pointed out her room. Since this apartment has central hot water heat Zuhua and her husband live here during the winter months. It was special to be there to experience another piece of Chinese culture and the roots of a very special family.

When we arrived Zuhua’s mother was not there, but had stepped out for some things. While we waited Zuhua got the big family photo album and sat sown next to me and opened it up. It started with pictures of Zuhua as a child and worked its way up to the present. As I was looking at the pictures I realized that these were not just pictures of a family, they were now in a way my family. It was real special to see pictures of both Zuhua and Jiajing as they grew up and to think that I had the opportunity to see them become part of another family. In that family we are truly brother and sisters and have an eternal relationship ahead of us.

Not coming to China someday will be like being in China and not being able to return to the states to see my family. It will be part of the dying process that separates lives at the end of one’s life. The separation of some of those lives is only temporary, but others are forever.