My parents had already made plans to have breakfast with my grandparents, but didn’t tell them that I would be in town. They had to tell one set of g-parents because my yeh-yeh didn’t feel like going out for breakfast until he found out I was back. But there was still another set of g-parents that I was able to surprise. I’ve been wanting to improve my Cantonese, and I keep telling myself to just call my grandparents more often. I’ll think of conversations in my head where my Cantonese isn’t half-bad. But then when I see them in person, I’m tongue-tied and suddenly don’t know what to say. I really should practice speaking Chinese more, if only to communicate more with them.

My mom also invited Auntie Mimmy and Eden, but Auntie Mimmy didn’t tell Eden that I was in town. I had just received a sad e-mail from Eden earlier that week about how her fish died and how she was terribly sad, so I was hoping I’d get a chance to see her. Apparently she was grumpy about being woken up so early and refused to even brush her hair, but she was all smiles when she found out why her mom had dragged her out of bed.

I love each one of my cousins, especially after having the privilege of watching them all grow up. But Eden is a unique one…she talks about wanting to go to UC Berkeley and being a hippie. She loves animals and wants to save the earth (”If I bought a car, I’d buy a hybrid.”), and always wants to “punch ‘em in the face” when she hears something that makes her mad. She talks about how what is on the outside doesn’t matter–only what is on the inside–and how she doesn’t understand why people care about clothes so much, especially people who wear things like belts made of genuine leather. She wanted me to wear green to Baldwin’s wedding “for her.” And she even entered a writing contest because she wanted to win a trip to Australia. If we could bottle up her passion and her intensity for life, the world would be a better place.

It’s visits like this where I am left really missing being around my family more, especially my extended family who I cannot as easily keep in touch with via e-mail or telephone.

I pretty much hung out with Auntie Mimmy, Eden, and my mom until it was time to go to the airport. I saw Dorc for a little bit–not as much as I had hoped for–but she fortunately had a free day to come to the airport with mom and dad.

And that ends my adventure up north…and next time, I’ll continue with my adventure in SoCal…