Dear Grandma, Humid summer nights turned into crisp fall afternoons and snowy winter mornings before arriving, in a flash, back to today, April 26. Another year older, another year wiser (perhaps), and another year more fulfilled. The lessons you imparted to me while sharing cherry-vanilla twisty cones at Dairy Queen, constructing cardboard box forts in your basement, and sharing our weekly lunches have stayed with me. Family, as always, is everything. But my definition of family is evolving and changing as I go through life. No longer confined to a nuclear unit of Mom, Dad, Daughter, and Son, my family has expanded to include a Chinese mom and sister, members of the International Festival Chorus of Beijing, attendees of a Catholic church on Wangfujing Street, and an eclectic group hailing from Britain, Australia, Austria, Ireland, the
... read more