All Too Human...

December 18, 2011


Dear Chelle-chelle,

If you wonder why sometimes you are so sentimental, stop wondering -- it's from your Mother!

Do you remember when we had our family vacation at Yosemite in the summer of 2004?  That's the first time we went to Reno and I had my job interview with Alere during that trip.  At Yosemite, I bought a CD album called "Acoustic Garden."  I loved it so much that when I first moved to Reno in the winter of 2004, I played that CD in my car every day.  It made me so sad every time I listened to it, as it brought me nothing but loneliness in the dark winter... Starting summer of 2005, I finally decided to stop listening to it because the sadness it brought to me was pretty enormous.

Well, seven years later, today, I am playing the CD again, and it made cry...  Once again, it brought me back to that dark winter when I did not know anyone in Reno.  Chelle, thinking back, I couldn't understand where I got the guts to go so far away for a job.  I don't regret it, but I have trouble understanding it.  Sometimes I love my fearless youth and my courage -- I just didn't realize how significant it was at the time. Think about it, Chelle, how on earth could I come to America all by myself in my early 20s?  What was I thinking?  I really, truly, literally gave up EVERYTHING I had back in China and came here from nowhere as nobody...

Chelle, sometimes it's "the road less traveled" that leads us to a whole new world.  Try to take that road when you are young, because as you grow older, you will have more concerns, more worries and more hesitation, which will undoubtedly limit your ability to charge ahead to reach your own special stars.

Maybe Mama is getting old!!  Tomorrow seems to be so challenging.  Taking a job 7 miles away from our house seems to be more difficult than going to Reno...  Well, for 20+ years working in this country, Alere is the place where I have worked the longest, so hope you understand the stress here.  Sometimes I tell myself to detach from everything, as I don't need all the baggage to drag me down.  However, sometimes I think because we are human, maybe it's okay to be sentimental, maybe it's okay to look back, stop and reflect, maybe it's okay to be sad and to cry...  Sometimes our emotions may enrich us and allow us to cherish every little stop on our journey.

Yeah, tomorrow, I will tell Alere that I am leaving...

Love,

Mom