I always say that my mother is the strongest woman I know....because it's true! I was talking to my sister Joyce earlier today, and she told me some information about my parents, particularly my mother, when we were younger living in Boston. Most of the information I've written in this entry is actually new to me. I only learned about all this today. I don't know why it's taken me this long to ask these questions to my mother. I do know that my parents' experiences have shaped who I am today.
When my parents came to the US in the late 1970s, they had very little. They lived in Chinatown, and my father worked in a Chinese restaurant. Carol was born in 1976 and Joyce in 1978. Around that time, my mom took a sewing job...in our apartment. Apparently, it was some underground thing. Her friends took her to a sewing shop, and my mother bought an industrial-looking sewing machine for $300! She spent her own money, and back then, that's a lot of money! A guy came by, dropped off some fabric, and she made some clothes. Then, the guy came back and picked them up. My mother made about $100-$200 per month. It wasn't a lot of money, but when asked why she had the job, she replied that she wanted to stay home with the kids. She only had the job for a year before she realized it was too much to do the job and take care of the kids at the same time. For the next five years, my mom was out of a job, Ken and I were born, and we moved to a new apartment in the South End. Both the apartments in Chinatown and the South End were subsidized housing. Rent only cost my parents $300 per month. Because my father was the only one working in a job making a salary of $1600 per month, my parents needed ways to support the family. Here is where I learned how resourceful my mother was.
When my mom had Carol, the hospital referred my mother to WIC. She received nutrition education and vouchers for food. She still remembers something she learned in those classes, "When the baby is three months old, you should mix a little egg yolk with milk and feed it to the baby." Hehe. Is that true? Anyway, the vouchers for the food is how I ended up liking government cheese. I'm serious. It was good. When we were living in Chinatown, my mother used to go to the South Cove Community Health Center. There is where she learned about Head Start and enrolled us into the program. I remember when I was in the Head Start program, I met this teacher named Nancy. She was an older Chinese woman who I became close to. She ended up naming her own child after
me, and I still bump into her from time to time in Chinatown. Then when we moved to the new apartment, my mother took us to the South End Community Health Center. She was passing by this info board when a picture of a Santa Claus caught her eye. The flier was advertising for a program called Globe Santa. It's a program created by Boston Globe, and it provides gifts to children in Boston. The Globe Santa Fund collects donations from readers and advertisers so that children from these Boston communities can have gifts on Christmas. I asked my mother if the flier 
was in Chinese, and she immediately got a bit defensive. In Chinese, she says to me, "No! Your mom is smart. She was learning English." I was completely shocked, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised by my mother. So every Christmas morning, we ran down the stairs, opened our front door, and a big brown box waited on our doorstep. I remember a lot of books, and Joyce remembered the generic Barbies. HAH! There were a lot of other educational toys in there too, but that was our Christmas morning.
I know I just went into a whole shpeel about the resources my mother got for us, but starting in 1984, my parents opened up their own Chinese restaurant with help from my uncle who was a businessman in Hong Kong. So they were not only resourceful enough to get all these supports that I mentioned, but they worked LONG hours at the restaurant, and still had time to make sure we were fed and clothed. I remember there were nights when my parents didn't have our neighbors to watch over us. I would hang out at the restaurant, and when it got late, I slept in our station wagon in the parking lot located in the back of the restaurant. Eventually, we all ended up working in the restaurant as we got older. I started taking food orders and packing food in the 6th grade, but by this time, my parents had saved enough money to move us out of Boston and into an actual home in the suburbs. They knew they had to get us out of Boston Public Schools if they wanted us to have a good education. I could go on, but it's amazing what my parents were able to do for us. I don't like to brag, but look at my family! We all graduated from college. We all have decent jobs. 
Carol is actually going for her Ph.D. right now. Carol is actually the first one to graduate from high school and college in our family. It's amazing how we've all turned out. Growing up, my mother would say to me, "We work this hard so that some day you won't have to work as hard as we do." When Joyce told me about my mother taking the sewing job because she wanted to stay home with the kids, I started crying. Just thinking about the amount of hardships they experienced overwhelms me. Today, I can't imagine them suffering this way. But, do you know the greatest thing about reflecting back about this is? I actually have the ability take care of them now.
When my parents came to the US in the late 1970s, they had very little. They lived in Chinatown, and my father worked in a Chinese restaurant. Carol was born in 1976 and Joyce in 1978. Around that time, my mom took a sewing job...in our apartment. Apparently, it was some underground thing. Her friends took her to a sewing shop, and my mother bought an industrial-looking sewing machine for $300! She spent her own money, and back then, that's a lot of money! A guy came by, dropped off some fabric, and she made some clothes. Then, the guy came back and picked them up. My mother made about $100-$200 per month. It wasn't a lot of money, but when asked why she had the job, she replied that she wanted to stay home with the kids. She only had the job for a year before she realized it was too much to do the job and take care of the kids at the same time. For the next five years, my mom was out of a job, Ken and I were born, and we moved to a new apartment in the South End. Both the apartments in Chinatown and the South End were subsidized housing. Rent only cost my parents $300 per month. Because my father was the only one working in a job making a salary of $1600 per month, my parents needed ways to support the family. Here is where I learned how resourceful my mother was. 
When my mom had Carol, the hospital referred my mother to WIC. She received nutrition education and vouchers for food. She still remembers something she learned in those classes, "When the baby is three months old, you should mix a little egg yolk with milk and feed it to the baby." Hehe. Is that true? Anyway, the vouchers for the food is how I ended up liking government cheese. I'm serious. It was good. When we were living in Chinatown, my mother used to go to the South Cove Community Health Center. There is where she learned about Head Start and enrolled us into the program. I remember when I was in the Head Start program, I met this teacher named Nancy. She was an older Chinese woman who I became close to. She ended up naming her own child after
me, and I still bump into her from time to time in Chinatown. Then when we moved to the new apartment, my mother took us to the South End Community Health Center. She was passing by this info board when a picture of a Santa Claus caught her eye. The flier was advertising for a program called Globe Santa. It's a program created by Boston Globe, and it provides gifts to children in Boston. The Globe Santa Fund collects donations from readers and advertisers so that children from these Boston communities can have gifts on Christmas. I asked my mother if the flier 
was in Chinese, and she immediately got a bit defensive. In Chinese, she says to me, "No! Your mom is smart. She was learning English." I was completely shocked, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised by my mother. So every Christmas morning, we ran down the stairs, opened our front door, and a big brown box waited on our doorstep. I remember a lot of books, and Joyce remembered the generic Barbies. HAH! There were a lot of other educational toys in there too, but that was our Christmas morning. 
I know I just went into a whole shpeel about the resources my mother got for us, but starting in 1984, my parents opened up their own Chinese restaurant with help from my uncle who was a businessman in Hong Kong. So they were not only resourceful enough to get all these supports that I mentioned, but they worked LONG hours at the restaurant, and still had time to make sure we were fed and clothed. I remember there were nights when my parents didn't have our neighbors to watch over us. I would hang out at the restaurant, and when it got late, I slept in our station wagon in the parking lot located in the back of the restaurant. Eventually, we all ended up working in the restaurant as we got older. I started taking food orders and packing food in the 6th grade, but by this time, my parents had saved enough money to move us out of Boston and into an actual home in the suburbs. They knew they had to get us out of Boston Public Schools if they wanted us to have a good education. I could go on, but it's amazing what my parents were able to do for us. I don't like to brag, but look at my family! We all graduated from college. We all have decent jobs. 
Carol is actually going for her Ph.D. right now. Carol is actually the first one to graduate from high school and college in our family. It's amazing how we've all turned out. Growing up, my mother would say to me, "We work this hard so that some day you won't have to work as hard as we do." When Joyce told me about my mother taking the sewing job because she wanted to stay home with the kids, I started crying. Just thinking about the amount of hardships they experienced overwhelms me. Today, I can't imagine them suffering this way. But, do you know the greatest thing about reflecting back about this is? I actually have the ability take care of them now.
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