Homeschool—a loaded term with a history that reeks of religious indoctrination and keeping children out of touch with modern society. But it’s not like that for most homeschoolers today.
I was 8 years old, fidgeting in my seat, sandwiched between my father and my grandmother in Sunday morning church. It was hour two of a long Catholic service and I was regretting not going to the children's class with all the songs and snacks...
My Chinese parents are not tigers. They did not rage when I brought home poor grades; they did not resort to corporal punishment, except on the truly rare occasion.
When I grew up, there was no such thing as boundaries. Though my family isn’t as traditionally hierarchical as some, parental authority remained strong. They had license to come into my room at any time, offer unsolicited advice, and what’s mine was theirs.
My mother died unexpectedly on July 8th. Yes, she happened to be diagnosed with a brain tumor fifteen years prior to that, live cancer-free for eleven years, and have it return to leave her with a right-side disability for four years leading to her death...
That declamation burst from my lips many, many times when I was a child. Framing my early years were a father whose own childhood left him violence prone and incapable of bonding, and a benighted religious sect that was hidebound to the past.
"How are you doing? Do you need anything? Those questions still throw me back into the first hazy, grainy days after my husband, Bruce, died very suddenly November 22, 2017 from double pulmonary embolisms.
