Family

Yang sends me a WeChat that Elisa’s school will have her participate in some government event this week. I text back that Trump is in town on Thursday. “That must be it”, she says. I am added to the WeChat group with the other parents of the 10 American kids selected from Elisa’s school. There are instructions in Chinese and English including dress code. The coordinating teachers ask for photos of what the kids will wear and we dutifully send. No black stockings for Elisa, white or grey is ok. Some details trickle in - welcoming ceremony, outside of great hall of the people, kids up front. There is no direct mention of Trump. We all know. ...

Lydia and Elisa had birthdays this week with Lydia becoming a teenager and Elisa turning nine. I’m feeling grateful for having these two beautiful, smart, caring daughters Four years apart they are at such different stages. Elisa holds my hand when we walk to the market and she cuddles up next to me when we watch a TV show. She’s outgoing and talks a lot. She likes to snoop around the house and was always to first of my kids to detect if I was dating someone new (fortunately, not a too frequent occurrence). She’s becoming less picky about what she eats and she is nostalgic for the meals and activities we used to do way back when she was seven. She finds silly things silly and funny things funny and dramatic things dramatic. All evidenced in her love for the Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker Rush Hour series. Lydia is also caring and has grown up so much these past 18 months but she’s not so interested in holding hands or public signs of affection. She shows her love with jabs, the tell tale Allio sense of humor the cuts sharp and sometimes cross the line. For instance, we were talking about her mom’s upcoming birthday. I was proposing a countdown. Every day a big WeChat posts with “120 days until 50” combined with an unflattering picture. It’s kind of mean, but instead of stopping there we came up with “50 years of bad hair styles” and “Things that didn’t exist when mom was born” ending with dirt. Birthday party wise, we celebrated Lydia’s birthday last Tuesday. She helped the ayi make roast chicken and mashed potatoes. It is a similar to what we’ve had for Thanksgiving and I was pleased to see her picking up on the tradition. Elisa is on vacation with her mom and the other kids and will have a celebration tonight. My gift is supposedly packed. When she’s back, I will through her another little party including her nostalgically favorite ice cream cake. ...

I wake up at 8am and walk a half mile to Starbucks where I order an Americano. I prefer a brewed coffee but I don’t want them to make a pot just for me and if they already have made it could be stale. Negotiation. My card doesn’t work which annoys me but not as much as it used to. Progress. I sit down with my Americano and text the kids saying that I will see them for lunch but that I won’t do the 10am basketball. It is father’s day, 2017. Acceptance Father’s day this year fell on the week that the kids were with Yang and in my normal wo is me mode I wasn’t going to say anything. But the kids and overtly Elisa and Lydia were looking forward to father’s day with Elisa telling me two weeks ago that she already had my present and would I like to know what it was. So I got on a mobike and met them at an American style mall and we had lunch at an Italian restaurant. I ate a lot. The manager stopped by and Yang knew him from back when we used to go to the same restaurant in another location; pre-Elisa days. I had no idea who he was. I shook his hand, one of those weird man shakes. Lydia found it funny and weird and I’m reminded of my dad. We are going into the back door JCPenny at Tanforan mall. A man my dad knows is loading a van or something and they exchange greetings. But in what would now be called bro man speak with a couple vulgarities mixed in. I was like, wo, what is that. Never knew my dad had a personality. Door opened. I don’t think I ever saw that kind of personality from him pop out again. In fact it is hard for me to think of times where he seemed to be enjoying himself. No music. Laughter? Maybe watching The Newlywed Game on TV but even then I cannot say I detected enjoyment or joy. Joy was measured by the lack and negative emotions. Maybe that was as good as it got for him. Represent. I spent the weekend trying to organize the clutter of my apartment. A lot of the clutter is from the kids. Drawings. Leaving books and small toys around. I found a drawing from last year’s father’s day that Lydia made but did not quite complete. It showed her smiling, looking into my eyes, and giving me a gift and saying “I love you” under the title “imagined”. Below that she had another picture where she is handing a gift but looking away and saying “here”. The title below is “actual”. Been there. After lunch and a frappachino the kids and Yang go to a movie. I hug Lydia which isn’t something I do enough of. I hug Aidan who I also don’t hug much now that he is 14. Elisa is grabbing on my arm wanting her hug. They turn to go inside and then Aidan looks back. “Tell your dad happy father’s day” he says. I will. Generations. I walk back home. It takes me about an hour but I have nothing else to do. I listen to podcasts and music which I enjoy even if no one can tell. ...

I am on a mobike riding to Chaoyang park to meet Aidan and Lydia. The bike hits a bump and the basketball pops up from the front of bike basket. I catch and and place it back down all in a semi continuous motion feeling somewhat coordinated for once. And then focusing on not hitting another bump I get to the park, a massive urban park on the order of Golden Gate Park. There is a sea of mobikes and other bike sharing brands. I notice people are dressing like it is summer which I like and why not, it is 85F outside. Aidan and Lydia are already warming up on the court, waiting for me. They have the half court to themselves which surprises me in the complex of six or so full courts. I pay my 20 RMB and join them. I should be warmed up from the bike ride but I settle for taking set shots and moving in straight lines. Lydia is dressed to play, she’s been asking me to help her with it and we’ve been doing some dribbling and passing drills after dinner. She is somewhat coordinated but struggles to dribble with her left hand and is pushing her shots. She does look the part, long and lean with black knee length shorts. Long and lean is relative when it comes to Allios and Aidan is more like me. Squat. But he moves well, zigging and zagging. He loves the step back three pointer and the underhanded driving layup. We play a game of 21 and and game of red-white-blue. I win. Hey, I won’t be able to do this much longer. During the second game a few other people join our court and shoot around. I take same jumpers and make around five mid rangers in a row now that my knees and shoulders are warm. Aidan says, “wait, aren’t you like 50, you shouldn’t be able to move like that”. Now, is that a compliment? More people join our court and start a game of five and five without asking us. It is a bit rude but we are almost done anyway. I’m trying not to let others rudeness get to me these days. I get a ride share car for Aidan and Lydia and they head to their mom’s home. I decide to walk home, past the park goers, kite flyings, roller bladers, and bikers. It is labor day weekend here. The next day Sabrina and I would explore the forgotten and kind of forgettable Temple of the Moon in the west of Beijing. We then biked through the ulta modern western finance district, through hutongs, and then along the main East/West street that cuts between Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. As we get close we can see the square and forbidden city are all decked out. Flags blowing in the wind and then a water fountain show not unlike one might expect in vegas. It was a reminder of what a cool place this can be. ...

It’s a late March morning and I’m walking with Elisa to the south gate of our apartment compound. It is one of those mornings in spring where it feels warmer outside. Two birds in a tree above us catch our attention. They are making a racket, either fighting or playing. I ask Elisa which. She says fighting since they both probably want the same part of the tree. 100 feet in front of us we see a black bird with white strips swoop down onto the path. It walks a bit and then picks up a tree branch. The bird climbs effortlessly with the branch looking awkward in it’s beak. Halfway up a nearby tree it lands and uses the branch as part of the nest she is building. I don’t recall every seeing that firsthand before Elisa and I get to the apartment compound gate and have to wait a couple of minutes for the car. I check my phone and show her the car location and tell her the last three license plate digits. We mostly stand in silence. When the car gets there we climb in back, Elisa in first so that I can get out first to protect her from bikes when we do get to her school. I check news and sports and my day’s schedule on the ride in. I ask Elisa if she has any tests that day which isn’t probably a great choice of topic. We get to school and we get out. Her friend arrives at the same time and she squeals Elisa’s Chinese name when she sees Elisa. Elisa scoots over and they walk hand and hand into the school. I turn the other way. Power on my headphones, pull up the hoodie, and do the 10 minute walk to the subway station. Crab into a car. I will be at work and hour later, in time for my 8:30am call. On this day I need to meet Elisa after school because somewhat unexpectedly the ayi had the day off. I meet her and Elisa’s eyes light up when I say “video game?” which is what we call the arcade at a nearby mall. She plays for a bit while I stand. We then go for one of her favorites, what she calls “chinese hamburgers” because I can’t remember the name of the food. We devour a burger a piece. We then call a didi (like uber) to take us home where Aidan and Lydia are waiting. Thinking about the bird from this morning I realize the nest is a little bit stronger. ...

I’m cooking dinner. Not really sure why I’m cooking dinner. Had a huge lunch with the kids, Sabrina, and Sabrina’s parents at a local tex mex place. The quality of the tex mex wasn’t great and that was known going i Back to cooking dinner. Lydia helped with the Kale chicken salad and then I asked the kids to get off their pads and phones until after dinner. The pad and phone time battle is a losing one. And I guess one about control. Not sure what the real harm is. Then again, as I mentioned, I’m not sure why I am cooking dinner. So there’s that. But the kids do get off the pads and phones and soon there’s laughter in the house. Uno is being played between Elisa, Aidan, and Sabrina. Lydia is on the couch doing “art” which is an upgraded term from what she used to just call “drawing”. I finish cooking, a kind of chicken casserole that takes an hour. Lydia and Aidan set the table and the five of us sit around. Elisa as usual doesn’t want to try anything. She’s satisfied with the sweet potatoes I cooked earlier. Aidan takes a few bites and says he’s full. Sabina, Lydia, and I eat well. From kitchen to table - two hours. From table back to pads and phones - 15 minutes. The 15 minutes was filled with talk about school and some laughter. Leftovers for lunch packed and dishes washed the end of my week with the kids is about up. Time to make sure they shower and sleep with their pads away from their beds. The weekend last most weekends I have with them was uneventful. Friday night pizza party, movie night. Saturday afternoon basketball with Aidan and Lydia, Lydia suddenly wanting to learn after our trip to the US. A play date for Elisa. Sunday was mostly lunch and digestion. And then cooking. ...

Aidan goes into the restroom with a pair of scissors and starts to cut his hair. A few minutes later he emerges, unsuccessful, and asks if he can go get a haircut. I need one too, my homeless look not working so well this winter so I say “sure”. We recently moved so we don’t have a goto place to get our hair cut so we just head out looking since it seems every block in Beijing has a hair salon. Until you are looking for one. We do find one after a couple of blocks. It looks small and not busy so we look a bit more but end up going inside. A middle age woman greets us hopefully and Aidan asks if they can do a haircut. I have ask if they can do us together and she says sure and then she taps a young man sleeping in a chair who turns out to be my hairdresser. ...