Instant Family

Asians mothers are a different breed...or can be. This morning I received the mango pictured below from my friend Sharon who stopped to see her mother on the way to/from her trip to North Carolina where she met her husband who just came back from serving in Afghanistan.

Sharon had been talking to her mother about me regarding a particular way to prepare a mango like they do in the Philippines and in the middle of the conversation, her mother takes one of her own mangoes, wraps it and instructs her to bring it to me in Florida (from Georgia) not even thinking we have mangoes here, too. It is this generosity for a stranger that always amazes me. The only thing that mattered to her mother was that she had another Filipino friend (me) and that I could share cultural similarity with her daughter. It was like saying, "Oh! You must bring her one. She couldn't possibly live without having one to remind her of her old home." I was another daughter of sorts -- instant family.

I opened this exotic fruit humbly wrapped in a plastic bag and a paper towel. The towel absorbed some of its fragrance so when I unwrapped my treasure, my childhood wafted into my nostrils triggering memories of the outdoor markets. I said as much to Sharon who sniffed the package and agreed.



My aunt does the same thing for me when I visit her and she has extras of some steamed Filipino rice muffins. She insists on me taking it for my friend Kathy (not Filipino or not that we can disprove yet - ha!) who loves it, but is one of my close friends. Instant family.

Bridget gave me the mini report of how her son received his handmade and handpicked gift from me yesterday -- a decorated cupcake with a chocolate flower on top. He was excited and licked all the frosting off first then ate the cake. He had asked if I was part of the family on Saturday. I guess this was another example of instant family.

My own Caucasian side of my family is a bit disjointed and maybe even shattered in parts. Sometimes a certain loneliness creeps within me when I think of my big disconnect with them, but it is my Filipino side that keeps me sane. That side and the other mothers my friends have.

I am both embarrassed and proud to say that I get many little "I'm thinking of you" gifts from my girlfriends' moms. It is so sweet and very surprising because what I get are always beautiful and seem tailored to me. These mothers are mostly non-Asian, but somehow they practice instant family... The commonality may be that they are mothers or maybe we all tune ourselves instinctively to when our heartstrings are plucked in just a certain note of wanting someone to have a certain thing because we know they will enjoy it and resonate in receiving what we send in giving. Does that make sense?

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The whole day wasn't spent in feel good vibes; some crazy testosterone laden vibes came in like party crashers. Rob mentioned how he talked to Dan about shooting and shooting positions then invited him to a possible game of paintball. Dan then responded that I would have to be invited. (I am sure he did this to torture me because it is outdoors and they both think I may be too girlie to get dirty. Got news for you boys -- Don't let the hair and make-up fool you. I will turn Rambo on your ass...um, wearing lipgloss and spreading glitter while doing it, of course. Maybe even serving you a canape after you get taken out of the game?) The invite was extended to Bridget where I said that we could do "Gals vs. Dorks". All four of us are very competitive. The men like to hedge their shots while us gals like to pull the trigger to empty.

Before I knew it, the group of four grew to nine. We really need 10 for two teams of five players. A small testosterone challenge has suddenly turned into an outing that may be realized at the end of next month. It's not going to be pretty until the pink paint starts making its targets. Canape anyone?
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Instant Family

Two Families and Kissing Shrimp

This morning was a retake of The Saturday Four, but it almost never was. Kim was really late and caught me on the phone as I was about to leave the parking lot. I waited for her and we hustled two miles in case her migraine came back in full force.

Spent a couple of hours by myself before getting ready to visit my aunt and my cousin Ida. It was the first day styling my hair with the new color and I have to get used to seeing myself with dark brownish red hair. Tried taking pictures, but I wasn't satisfied with them. I apologize, but I will post one or two tomorrow for Tuesday viewing...

My aunt wasn't home when I called her so I called Ida to see if she was ready for me. She had called me yesterday on the way to the salon to ask if I could help with her Internet connection. Like I was the computer whiz. Somehow one of the twins was doing research for a school assignment and they lost Internet connectivity. I think it was their fiber optic connection and a tech was supposed to call back.

Had a quick lunch with them and danced around my cousin's husband's suggestion of meeting this guy. They mean well and I didn't want to hurt their feelings so I told them I wasn't ready to date anyone, but would let them know. I'm not the kind of woman who can jump from one person to the next as quickly as others. Never had someone waiting in the wings either just in case the other wasn't working out. Just not built that way. Guys are better at it than women, I think. They are more machinelike in that sense.

Drove to my aunt's to meet Nan's sister Aunt Wilma and was surprised to see the telltale minivan parked in the front. Inside was gonna be loud with kiddies. I got excited.

Baby Colton was just a pickle today. I took almost a dozen shots and this was the best one.


My aunt with an order of Fresh Lumpia a friend was picking up.


Kristen and Carter harvested some calamondin from Lala's (that's what they call my aunt, their grandmother) tree outside. They were dressed in Chinese style clothing my aunt and uncle bought while they were in Chinatown in Galveston a few weekends ago. There is always plenty of activity at my aunt's house for them and today was no different.

Here they are making Filipino lemonade with Splenda under Lala's supervision. Kristen wanted the coconut (she would later grate using a Filipino grater) in the pic, too.


I couldn't believe they were carrying these shrimp around and making them kiss for this AGOLrazzi. They helped Lala peel them and take the heads off before she made delicious tempura out of them. With both of their grandmothers being Filipino: shrimp happens.


Kristen picked this three-pound mango from Lala's tree outside and Auntie Sarah got to take it home. My precious...


My aunt sent me home with my mango and a papaya from her backyard, too. Little Philippines is located over there. I stayed longer than I wanted because of dinner and today I didn't mind. Even traffic home with some of the road closures didn't bother me either. I drove home in the early evening storm with the radio blasting.

Two Families and Kissing Shrimp