Be Grateful

Everyone has a story.

And they’re all different.

Some are more interesting than others, but all are interesting in their own way, particularly to those to whom they happened.

So, like the stars in the sky, there are billions of stories in the universe.

But there really aren’t that many.

Many are a variation on a common theme.

My parents emigrated from China to the USA to pursue college and higher education in the 1920s.

The story behind those decisions, again probably unique, can be told another time.

My father’s sister and her husband also came from China to the USA but, unlike my parents, returned to China after their educational goals were achieved.

Almost certainly little knowing what awaited them in ensuing years.

In 1980 my eldest sister and I and our respective spouses flew to China for the 1st time.

Photo: author

In Beijing, which was but one of many cities we visited, we met my paternal aunt, the one who had spent some years in the U.S.