the apple and the tree

As you all know, this past weekend was Mother’s Day. I’ll take the recent holiday weekend as an opportunity to introduce you to the one and only, Momma Chiang. She is THE ORIGINAL Tiger Mom – move over Amy Chua because you ain’t got nothin’ on this tough lady. She is strong. Steely even. And, she is crazy. Not your run of the mill crazy. It’s the undiagnosable kind of crazy. The kind of crazy that makes your friends think your mom is adorable, only you know better. And you’re afraid. VERY afraid, because it’s the kind of crazy for which medication does not exist.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my mom. But we definitely have that somtimes tense mother-daughter relationship. Can’t live with her. Can’t live without her. And thanks to Husband, I have been led to understand the source of this tension. It’s because I am CRAZY too. There it is. In black and white for all to read. Yes. The old adage that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree is sadly true.

This past holiday weekend…as my mom was, I’m sure, rewriting the draft of her annual Mother’s Day phone call speech to inform us  (read: guilt us) of how we have forgotten about her, my brother and I prepared to surprise visit her. So Husband and I boarded a plane and John boarded a train and we met in Albany. SURPRISE MOM! Well if ever there was a more understated state of surprise, I have not seen it. It’s almost like she knew we were coming, except she didn’t because when I walked up to the door, she thought I was the UPS delivery lady. What does that say about my body build and my outfit???

Let me tell you what I learned about my mom. As my mom has gotten older, I’ve become a little more worried that she would one day wire money to some representative from the Bank of Nigeria. Well I could not have been more wrong. Turns out I have a something else entirely to worry about. As we were waiting for our lunch to be brought to our table, my mother proudly announced to us that she applied for an American Express card, in my name, so that she could get 10,000 Delta miles in furtherance of her China trip this coming November. Better yet, she gets these miles after she spends $500.00 on the card – in my name. There's a word for this kind of behavior. It's called identity theft. Who knew that my mother would be the criminal and I would be the prey?

Identity theft aside, it was a great Mother’s Day weekend. We went to Saratoga where we filled up on sun, gelato, hat shopping, whiffle ball, and antiquing.  Oh and some fresh air - some really fresh pure air.

 

I’ll end today’s post with Saturday evening’s festivities. My brother and I were anticipating a night of watching the Caps-Rangers do-or-die Game 7 when my mother informed us that she cancelled her subscription to cable months ago. What do you mean you cancelled cable!?! Since Husband and I have settled into the DC region, I have all but abandoned my New York teams (the Knicks being the exception, thank you Jeremy Lin). So how were my brother and I going to play out our sibling rivalry via the Caps and Rangers without cable? We all piled into the car and drove down the main strip in my mom’s town searching for a sports bar. Sadly, there were none to be found until we drove by Hooters. Faced with very little options, we decided to go in and watch the game. My mother’s response: “Hooters? Oh, they have chocolate.” Yes mother, that is indeed what they are famous for. What can you say to the woman who thinks the two “O O” in are supposed to be eyeballs, except, I <3 her.

And even though the Rangers won, I got this on you big bro - enjoying that pure oxygen.