This Makes Me Gears Grind (Direct copy of Bryan’s Grinds My Gear Segment)

So as some of you heard in mass today, my uncle’s mom died (Chu Khiet’s mom). She was my grandmother’s sister. Luckily Joe explained to me how we are related in terms that I can understand. My relationship with this person is equivalent to Aaron and Mai’s relationship with Bryan’s mom, which they also call Ba. Uh Ah!

So like tradition, before mass the person reads the mass intentions. There were a good amount of “Xin le cho linh hon Maria, moi qua doi.” It really makes me gears grind when they repeat “moi qua doi” three plus times in a roll. Each time I hear it, I just want to stand up with a shocked face like OMG! Moi qua doi?!?! I think announcing it once is plenty good enough, the moi qya doi part that is. Another thing that is annoying is when they xin le for someone that died in Vietnam. They always have to say “moi qua doi tai Vietnam.” My reaction would always be, oh thank goodness it’s not the linh hon Maria in America that I know… Our Vietnamese traditions can be very funny…

Anyways I wanted to share a little bit of what I know of Ba aka linh hon Maria. I didn’t have much of a relationship with her, but I will always remember her as the Ba that really loved my mom. Once in a while, she would take candy and fruit from her house, wrap it up in a napkin and brings it to church for my mom. Of course every time she brings it, my mom would say no please don’t bring it because I can’t eat it. Ba’s response would always be the same, “then give it to your boys!.” When I was younger, I loved her sneaker bars! I will also remember her as a extremely strong lady that survived breast cancer and a robbery which they tried to kill her, all of this in Vietnam where the hospital system is nowhere as good as ours. Now that’s a strong lady!

Now this last part, I hope will pull on the heart strings of those that read this. My other uncle whom doesn’t go to our church has been taking his mother’s hospitalization not very well. It has really messed up his head. For the past week prior to her passing, he would not be able to sleep and would always cry out at night for his mother, “Ma oy, ma oy.” The hours prior to her passing, he was at her bedside saying his goodbyes. He was saying that he was sorry that he had to join the army which resulted in him being away from his mom for a very long time. He really regretted his time away.

My lesson learned is to really cherish the moments we have with our parents, especially our mothers. No matter how irrational we may think they are, deep down we have it good because they love us so much! Don’t live life with a possible regret of the last thing you said your moms. Cherish every moment as they will not be around forever.

5 comments:

Bryan said...

i agree, a mother's love is uncomparable...

also... LAI CHUA TOI , MOI QUA DOI?!

Willy Bob said...

I'm sorry for your loss. I will certainly keep her in my prayers.

It's great that you remind us of what really matters and is important. It's so easy to take for granted our moms with our busy lives. They may be irrational to us, but I know it's because they care...sometimes too much.

Khorn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Khorn said...

I agree with you Chris, cherish the moment. As I was mentioning to a few people at the retreat. My parents was in a car accident just last saturday. Both their car and the 19 year old boy were total (19 year old boy t-boned my parents car). I'm glad that everyone is okay and not hospitalized. Thank you God. (last post I spelled your name wrong)

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry for your loss yet I am glad that you were able to get a message from God and share it! I will keep it in mind. -Andy