Christopher Chin

She was always attentive to what I had to say, helped out in my classes for school projects and crafts, had major sense of humor. She wasn't exactly the parent that had no discipline, but she could have enforced and educated more, unlike my stepmom who was very mean and didn't let me walk freely inside my own house, standing in a corner all day when I had no school and also during school vacations. She was very loveable, but I had to be very weary of her telling my own personal secrets to other people as she would have such an enthusiastic childlike enthusiasm to tell them as if she had won the lottery. Looking back, I don't think she thought she was hurting me emotionally and maybe viewed it as a "harmless talking or joking". Maybe she could've used it as discipline had she wanted to instead of mindlessly telling my innermost secrets which she indeed felt was harmless play. I loved her as a mother and actually felt love and emotional attachment towards her. She would help my grandmother, her mother on Saturdays with cooking and cleaning. Grandma used to call her Ah nen. Me and my cousin used to play at her house while my mom helped clean and prepare dinner which usually consisted of white chicken along with a bowl that had rice and soup. During Christmas of 2004 I received a Princess Anneliese doll and movie princess and the pauper movie and in Christmas of 2005 I received a barbie Princess Anika doll.It was also during this exact year during Christmas break that my mom forgot to flush the toilet leaving me to discover her toilet paper that was now soaked in the toilet which had her period blood. I flushed it after I saw it. I had a very close bond with her as I was much more closer to her than my dad. When I told her I didn't like my dad and that I didn't want to go over to his and my later step mom's house, I firmly believe she took what I said to heart. As mom and dad were divorced at the time for quite a while, I was seeing my dad over a period of three day overnight weekends every week Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. After talking with mom, quite some time passed until my dad's meeting time with us kids was fortunately reduced to only Sunday for 6 hours, specifically from 12 PM-6 pm. One time , I specifically remember asking my mom while she was in the bathroom combing her hair, "Mommy, what would happen if you died?" Shd replied quite casually, "You would go to live with your father. Is that what you want?" "No, no, no no!" "Okay then!" She replied as if I had said something wrong. I remember she used to take me to her friend's house which was directly across from my school Lafayette Elementary School who we called "Aunt Julie. " who also has a wonderful daughter named Lindsey. I remember she took me to Sonshine Preschool, of which I have clear memories and remember all the teachers by name including all of my teachers I've had in my life after mom's passing. I remember we took the bus one time to preschool and my leg got stuck in door of the mini bus when I was getting of. The bus driver had to reopen the door. I remember one time I arrived at my preschool in the morning with lipstick on my lips because I had kissed my mom such and such times that morning. Then after I arrived, first - year Teacher Susan asking me why I had lipstick on to which I replied that I kissed my mom. I remember teacher Susuan trying to make my bleeding nose stop in the door way. I also remember her teaching us Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Cantonese and Teacher Jean teaching us the Cantonese version of "I'm a Little Teapot". I have my mom to thank for sending me to a preschool with wonderful teachers who continued to remember me long after my time at preschool. I have very happy memories of her taking me to the donut shop and getting me donut holes and of her buying Chow Fun noodles. As she knew what kind of food I liked, she was almost always in a cheerful mood when going to these places. Or when I was feeling sad and crying, she would try to cheer me up by asking if I wanted some mint chip ice cream. Some relatives I remember of hers are Kel- hoo and Kel -Gong. Maybe they were my mom's grandparents. I remember Kel -hoo ( lady ) gave me a toy fish tank that was somewhat broken, but could be fixed with a soft hitting which would make the fish move again- me and her found this quite humorous. Bak -bak was mommy's friend , I remember once we went out to have sushi and he came along with us along with my older sister. He might have given me a gift at some point. Then there was "Uncle" Bill. Not really my uncle , but as Chinese respect, we say uncle. Mom used to take me to his store that he ran. We got snacks there sometimes but I remember I used to get all my miniature scooby doo stuffed animals from his store which I used to pile upon shoe boxes and McDonald's boxes, as they were houses for all my scooby doo dogs. There was also "Jeena Yee-Yee" my neighbor on the right side of my house who has a daughter named Nikki. I came over to her house at least once to have dinner. Then there was Martin and Matthew's house on the left side. I remember we had chicken that they had purchased alive and had them stored in paper bags on the floor which me and my mom had fun kicking. At one point their dad took out one of the chickens for me to pet. At one point I saw their mom skinning one of the chickens alive while there was blood in the sink. Later , when eating my mom said I was eating the part of the chicken which I had pet earlier which probably wasn't exactly true because I was eating a drumstick. I also remember my mom bringing home crabs which we would put in the sink to have fun with before we would eat them. Niki broke up one of the crab's claws one time with a chopstick which amazed her. Her mom used to pick green apples sometimes from her backyard garden that I would eat for lunch at my elementary school. My mom was also friends with my sister's friend's mom who we called Bonnie Yee-Yee. They lived in an apartment on Geary street. There was also Auntie Grace, another one of my mom's friends. I cannot express how much humor she used to have within her body and bones. I also remember her teaching me how to roll my r's and teaching me how to braid using the barbie as rapunzel book she had bought me at toys r us. I loved her taking me there. I also remember her lovingly spoon feeding me occasionally up to the year till she passed away when I was 9 and also sleeping in the same bed as her. I still remember the specific way she used to do the spoon feeding and how it felt in my mouth and how it came out of my mouth.Sometimes on the weekend I would get a little annoyed when I wanted to wake up early to play video games or watch TV, she wouldn't allow me to and told me to sleep more until 8 AM. I remember wanting to fly a kite that my Aunt Marge bought for me at the beach. My mom agreed to take me out to the beach but it ended up being way too windy with sand flying into my mother's face even though we hadn't reached the sand yet. Despite this I still wanted to fly my kite, but mom didn't let me. There was also this really bitter herbal soup she gave me sometimes that I never liked. She'd have to bribe me saying that if I finished the soup, I could have m & ms after. She also made me delicious jook in kindergarten in 2001 - 2002 school year when I was sick. Other times when I was sick she'd have me drink warm honey water. I also remember her many impressions and funny voices she would do. I remember she would get mad at me for throwing food down the food grinder. I asked her a question once about where our toilet paper and stuff went after it got flushed and she replied that they take it and throw it into the ocean... Lol.