Recovering From Family (not that I don’t love them!)

Thanksgiving is a holiday that we try to celebrate in the spirit that it was intended (no, not the Native Americans rescuing the Pilgrims and then getting destroyed by disease) but the spirit of gratitude and thankfulness.  This year, the celebration was a lot of fun.  We went to the Inn at Little Washington with some friends for the meal.  We were gone the weekend before to Miami for the Best Buddies Miami gala and going to Miami that weekend meant that Jim did not have time to brine a turkey, and we ALL know that you can’t have un-brined turkey for Thanksgiving.  My parents then came into town as my aunt and uncle who live in Bethesda turned 80 this fall (by Chinese counting, anyway–by American counting, they are 79).  Other members of the Liang clan also descended in the area.  It was really lovely seeing my parents and cousins, aunts, and uncles that I hadn’t seen in a while.  However, I am also thankful that Thanksgiving is a short holiday.  🙂  My cousin, Lucy, gave a speech in honor of her parents and asked me to interpret for the non-English speaking relatives at the dinner.  This was an immensely stressful obligation.  It’s much easier for me to translate from Chinese to English, so I spent most of the Monday of Thanksgiving week looking up all sorts of words in my handy-dandy translator that we got when we were in Taipei last summer.  And, of course, when I asked Lu, my co-founder who grew up in China how to say “with gratitude and appreciation,” he looked at me and said, “I have no idea.  Chinese people don’t say things like that.”  It’s nice to know that the lack of positive reinforcement in our family is a cultural thing, not a personal thing.

P.S.  The translation went over better than expected.  My aunt and uncle were certainly appreciative!

One thought on “Recovering From Family (not that I don’t love them!)

  1. “Chinese people don’t say things like that.” Ouch! And I thought I had a dysfunctional mis-communicative family! 🙂

    Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving memories.

    Jon

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