My Gal

My gal, whom I have not seen in over a year, just celebrated her 82nd birthday this past June. My father, unfortunately, passed away when I was eight. Thereafter, my mother and I bounced around different locations in Chinatown until we settled at a "haunted" apartment complex at 1005 Powell Street at the edge of Chinatown. They were studio apartments with communal baths and kitchens but throughout the whole time, mom never indicated to me that life was difficult. Just lost her husband and now finding herself living on welfare and food stamps while taking care of an eight year old hyper, pain in the ass kid. My reason not to have any. I look at the way I once was and I would've driven myself ... up the wall. But the apartment was a good starter place. My mother befriended another little old lady who introduced her to Cumberland Presbyterian Church and there, she found community and made friends. Mom was born in 1923 in a small village outside of Canton, China. She was the oldest of three children. She told me horrid stories of the days when the Communist overran her property and ate her dog. I guess that was the time to leave. So in 1947, with my oldest brother in the oven, she boarded a ship bound for San Francisco. My grandfather was already here, settled in Chinatown and had established a grocery store in the Western Addition. Since then, my mother had three boys and one girl. She had her hands full.

My mother raised just the first two boys and my sister until 1962 when a surprised new addition came into the family. By the time I grew up, my siblings had already graduated from high school and left the household. I grew up like an only child, which I didn't mind. I had mom. She used to grab my toes with hers and I'd always lose. She was pretty tough for a 4'10" little asian mamma. Since my dad had passed away when I was young. I can at times feel the sadness of my mother missing my father so I tried to be a good son and not to give her too much problems. I made a point at a very young age never to wear black (black signified gang interest at that time) and to try to stick to the rules, although I was hyper-active and out of control much of the time. Like I said, a pain in the ass. So mom did her best taking care of me, which was enough. I enjoyed the ox-tail stew, the chinese sauage sticky rice dish, the spaghetti with ketchup and even the mayonnaise sandwiches (I thought of that one on my own unless it was my sister's concoction). My one regret at the age of nine was when my mother asked me if it was all right for her to remarry and I said, "NO!" cause I wanted mom all to myself. I never did find out if she had any possible interest but I wished I never said no. It's important for each of us to find a companion to live out the rest of our days with or just be happy. And I always wished she had found another one. But she didn't seem to mind as long as she was close to the family. Mom was always a cutie. She currently lives with my second brother Vince up in Diamond Heights in San Francisco.