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After graduating from McGill University (English major) and spending a couple of years working, I moved to Japan, where I taught English for five years, and, in what was to become my pattern, adopted a beautiful four-year-old daughter from Korea. In 1968 I returned to the States, a very different country from the one I had left, and spent most of the next 30 years working as a librarian here on the East Coast and raising ten kids including six foster sons from Vietnam (all adults now and living in with their immigrated families in this country) and four adopted daughters. Seven years ago I retired from a position I had held and loved for 20 years as Director of the New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped--and almost immediately fulfilled a life-long dream by going to China where I adopted my third daughter and, four years later, returned for my fourth (and possibly my last--but who knows?) daughter. So at this time even though I've been retired seven years, I still have two kids at home--and am definitely the oldest soccer mom on the block!
As for the reunion, I think it would be great to have a 50th rather than a 51st anniversary--but unfortunately feel it might not be possible for me to come this year if you are considering early June. Qiuhong, my 14-year-old, is graduating from 8th grade at Newtown Friends School this June and there are a number of related events--sports day, class picnic, graduation dance, and graduation itself--already on the calendar for the first week of the month.
At this point I am appalled at the thought of any out-of-state event at any time. I had trouble finding time just getting to the grocery store last week and this week is worse yet. It took almost two years after I had retired and adopted Qiuhong for me to realize why I never had any time at all, at least not any "loose" time. It came to me like a revelation that I still, after all, had a full-time job; I was home-schooling! Well, here it is five years later, and I am still home-schooling and, therefore, still have a full-time job. No wonder I constantly feel the pinch of time.
And February is always the "fullest" month of all. Tomorrow Yü-Li will be participating in her first Science Fair--and, even though the experiments themselves were easy enough, writing the whole thing up and putting it all together has taken hours and hours of time. We are now down to the wire, and she will be putting her display together this morning and also trying to correct a computer problem she has had in producing one of the three graphs that will be part of her report--and then we'll be ready. Her hypothesis is: Can a Capuchin monkey learn to use and understand numbers, one through five? No surprise to those of us who have been living with Kyla these last 12 years, the answer is "Of course!" as Yü-Li pointed out, "She is, after all, a primate--not a rabbit or a crab."
Also on the schedule this week is Chinese New Year, always a huge event in a house with two Chinese children. You cannot possibly imagine how much before-hand preparation goes into the event. I made my first phone call for this year's events last May and ever since then there have been weekly activities in preparation for the grandest of all holidays. These have included many violin rehearsals for the four kids, including my two, who will be playing a medley of Chinese folk songs on the violin, many many dance practices on Friday evenings from 9 to 10 pm after Chinese language school. The dance is looking great, all three minutes of it, but, of course, it has led to other things such as costume fittings and hair stylings and 8 months of Yü-Li's growing her hair long so she can wear it up.
As if all this were not enough to keep me on my toes, even the puppy Yü-Li is raising for The Seeing Eye has a schedule to maintain, and we will all be joining about 20 others and their pups this Saturday afternoon at a local movie theater to see Snow Dogs. Our pup Rainbeau is thrilled beyond belief--her very first movie. Kyla, the monkey, however, who is not invited is thoroughly pisssed, especially after all that work she did for the Science Fair!
Best wishes for a wonderful Year of the Horse.
Other family members: Gretchen, who coordinates the program for students with disabilities at Kansas State University, is divorced with two children. Harry still swims, is married with one son, works in finance, and lives in Dallas, TX
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Lt to Rt--Yü-Li, Jennie, Quihong, Becca 1998 |
Mary Ann and Becca 12/75 | |
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Becca, Mary Ann, Kyla, and Rainbeau | ||
