34

Whoa, so many painful memories. I’d forgotten how angry I was with my father for the bad times.

Did I ever tell you I couldn’t eat Chinese food for years and got the chills every time we drove by my favorite childhood restaurant, Bobo China? One time Howard told me a scary story of a boy who lost his best friend and found his friend’s shirt buried under a tree outside a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant had a trap door inside the front door and they had boiled his best friend and made dumplings out of his body meat. Howard, the genius, told me it was a restaurant just like Bobo China and every time I had to go there to eat, I would look around to make sure people were there and then throw the doors open suddenly and jump across the entry way in case the floor opened up to cook me.

33

Last Christmas Howard refused to have dinner with us because his wife invited people he hated. So he sat in the car, drove around ??, walked around ?? who knows. He showed up after dinner, went straight to the bedroom and Lil J and I filtered out of the place. Then I got the call that he was fighting with his wife and I walked in to chastise them for their shame. Seriously? On Christmas? In front of guests? O M G

It was our first Christmas as a family after seven years.

 

32

Before kindergarten, between the ages of 2-5 I walked by the side alley of our yard and saw my dad dying his hair. It was all white (or almost all white). He couldn’t have been older than his mid 30s.

As I near 30, I look at all the white hairs growing in patches on my head and think, F you appa, F you. lol

31

I’ve run out of things to say…

30

When South Korea first made it into the World Cup, my dad ordered a box of red shirts and made all his children wear one.

29

My dad liked to say Koreans were the best people in the world and that he and my mom had smart brains. He said every failure of mine was a direct result of my laziness.

28

My dad taught me a song and told me it was Spanish. I sang it in my young adult life to Spanish speakers after bragging about my linguistic abilities only to find out it was nothing close. What does “Salas Bunda” mean?

27

My dad slapped me across the face and all night and the next day I could run my finger across the welts from his hand.

26

My dad never went to church but he told me he didn’t have to go because he already knew God.

25

He always said he hit me because he cared.