Memories

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I'm feeling so full of turkey, crab, stuffing, and green bean casserole; too full to do much of anything, let alone deal with the crowds at the mall. I am all for a good deal, but mostly from the the comfort of my home. My pre-M self would have found the excitement of Black Friday irresistible, but the new me has gotten a bit less into collecting gadgets and a bit more into collecting memories. Maybe it's a sign that I'm getting older?

For instance, I've been asking my Mom and siblings to collectively document and create a book of Vietnamese recipes to pass down to our children. However, my other project involves just me and M.

I am not good at scrapbooking nor am I crafty enough to do anything remotely creative. So, instead of not doing anything at all, I have started writing letters to M...I write them on my way home from work on my Blackberry most of the time or anytime that I take public transportation and am able to secure a seat.

Here's an excerpt from the first letter I wrote to M at seven months...

Every day, I struggle to do stuff that will make you smile and laugh, though I’ve been calling you Grumps because you don’t get too animated with us. Baba calls you Mumpsy. Don’t ask me why he chose that name. I’ve already told him that it won’t sound so cute when you get older. Hopefully it won’t stick, for your sake.

I’ve been dying to tell you how sorry I am that I didn’t document when your first tooth came in, when you rolled over, and when you first “cooed.” At 7 ½ months, you are thriving so quickly and I’ve been worried that I failed you in a sense. Someday, when you have your own child, you’ll ask me when these things happened and I will have to give you rough estimate.

Your first tooth was the bottom tooth and came in very, very early, before your four month checkup. At this stage, you already have seven teeth that I can see: four on top and three on the bottom. I think the eighth one is about to come out. Poor you, you must be in such pain.

As for rolling over, you did that at two months or so and seemed really pissed off whenever you were on your tummy. Currently, you can only roll from your back to your tummy and not vice versa. You turn only onto your left side. That’s it. You are no ambiturner (check out Baba’s favorite movie – Zoolander).

Today, I wrote a letter to M documenting our second Thanksgiving together, conveniently leaving out the mishap of over salting our brined turkey.

Sometimes the best deal in life is the one waiting at home for me.

-Thuy