Another Mother’s Day1 has come and gone. I received some lovely cards from my husband Don, children, granddaughter, a friend, and my Chinese daughter for the year, Yuan Jing. I truly2 appreciated3 the cards and a phone call from our Ethiopian “daughter”: Yewoubdar4. It’s nice to be thought of by lovely people.
I read in the paper5 on Mother’s Day that people spend more money on Mother’s Day gifts than on Father’s Day gifts. The article didn’t say why, but I think it’s because many children who don’t live close to their mothers send flowers. I received some beautiful flowers from our son Jim and I am sure they were quite expensive6. I appreciate them, even though they make me sneeze7. He certainly won’t send flowers to his dad. That’s not the masculine thing8. Besides, Don would prefer a good book any time. Actually, so would I, but Jim had given me a gift certificate9 for books for Christmas, so I guess he thought he should do something else for Mother’s Day.
On Sunday night we had pizza10 and played Sequence11. That was also a “farewell” meal12 for Yuan Jing, who left to return to China early the next morning. She has learned to like pizza very much this year. When she arrived last fall she told us she didn’t really like pizza, so Kim told her that was because she hadn’t eaten really good pizza. Now that Jing has had really good pizza she likes it! We all do too.
Father’s Day will be in June. Kathy Li (our Chinese “granddaughter”) and I will probably grill hamburgers for Don that day. I hope we will be in Idaho then to enjoy them out on our deck13 with its beautiful view of meadows14 and mountains.
Notes:
1. Mother’s Day: the second Sunday in May in the U.S., a day in which mothers are honored.
2. truly: really, actually so.
3. appreciated: cherished, treasured, well regarded by someone, enjoyed (喜爱、赞赏).
4. Yewoubdar: the given name of Dr. Yewoubdar Beyene, a medical anthropologist, who is one of our “daughters” of our extended family.
5. paper: newspaper
6. expensive: costing a lot of money; not low priced (贵).
7. sneeze：打喷嚏
8. “That’s not the masculine thing.”: sentence meaning that some particular act or gift is not appropriate for a man (那不是该给男人的东西).
9. gift certificate：礼品卷
10. pizza (比萨饼): an open pie, made typically of flattened bread dough and covered with a sauce of tomatoes and cheese, and often with other vegetables and meat, and baked until ready to serve.
11. Sequence: a combination of board and card game featuring strategy on the part of the players (一种纸牌和棋盘相结合的游戏).
12. farewell meal: a meal prepared for someone who is leaving (告别饭).
13. deck: 一种与房子相连的户外木质平台.
14. meadows: grassland, often with wildflowers, and usually not cultivated.
