It
took me 145 days to digitize 9 books of old diaries -- from 1982.2.9 to
1997.8.22. They're now in a word document with a total of 213 pages.
One
entry touched me deeply. It was from 10/20/1993, when Michelle first
came back to Chicago after spending 2 years with Grandma and Grandpa in
China. Grandma and Grandpa didn't come back with her. So, she came to a
WHOLE NEW WORLD at age 3 -- all by herself. My original diary was beautifully written in
Chinese. To benefit Michelle, I translated it into English, but it
couldn't quite capture the sentiment... This diary entry was recorded
10 days after Michelle came back to Chicago.
A few weeks later, I received letters from Grandma and
Grandpa. In them, Grandma included 4 pictures she drew for Michelle.
Three of them were the main characters from Michelle favorite Chinese TV
show 白娘子 (bai niang zi).
I
truly felt the love Grandma sent to Michelle... through her favorite TV
characters at the time. Grandma also carefully dated each picture...
1993.10.20（三）
Michelle at age 3
给慢慢洗好澡，关大灯，开小灯。慢慢静静地躺在自己的小床上，眼睛亮亮的。我给她唱《半边楼》的插曲，她就眯眯笑，闪着眼睛对我说：“在我们家呀，有阿婆，阿公和阿姨。我就给他们唱这个歌…” 而后，又闪着透亮的眼睛对我说：“阿婆说我脑子里只有一个人，就是白娘子…”
她那样说着，眼睛并没有看着我，但却让我觉得慢慢小小的心灵和脑海中充满着幸福；充满着在中国经历、体验到的一切；充满着许许多多纯洁美好的记忆；充满着那三个给过她无限温暖和爱的人：阿婆，阿公和阿姨…
After
taking a bath for Michelle, I brought her to her bedroom. Turned off
the lights, only left the small night light on. Michelle laid on her
bed quietly, eyes bright. I sang a song for her from a Chinese TV show.
She smiled, so sweetly, and said: "In my family in China, there were
Grandma, Grandpa and Ayi. I always sang this song for them..." Then,
she widened her bright eyes and said: "Grandma said that there was only
one person in my head -- that's 白娘子…" (bai niang zi).
She
did not really look at me while talking, as if she was in her own
beautiful imaginary world. I felt clearly that her little heart was
filled with love and happiness; filled with her warm experience in
China; filled with all sweet and pure memories of China; filled with the
three people who gave her so much unconditional love: Grandma, Grandpa
and Ayi...
