A Happy Meal

Tuongvan Le
Aug 27, 2017 · 3 min read

*Not an ad for McDonald’s

Source: Pixabay

Part of adulting is to better understand our parents’ perspectives and closing the gap in thinking with our parents. The farther and the longer I am away from home, the more I miss the home-cooked meals that my family shared together twice a day, every day of the week.

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting inside a fancy café & bakery well-known or its delicious brunch sandwiches and quality brewed coffee and tea menu. With the wide access and availability of all sorts of cool space around big cities in the US, I have dreamed of turning creative, spacious coffee shops into my future working space. How cool and relaxing and fun would it be to get to work in such a creative, well-designed space full of delicious fancy snacks and drinks every day! With a quick swipe, the food and drink would become available instantly 5–10 minutes after. Lunch and dinner can be as quick as 15–20 min long in total. Food is just satisfying, fast, and convenient.

However, today, I sense a tinge of sadness as I sit, contemplating at the food in front of me, while feeling nostalgic of the old days when I would run around the kitchen as a child watching my mom prepare the food and asking a million questions about what ingredients she was using and how much was needed and how she could just cook without a recipe. I miss the meals that took hours to prepare for, and another hour to enjoy over silly conversations about ordinary things that happen in life. I wish that there’s a time machine that I can use to travel back to the old days of being a child again. I also look forward to the moment when I have a family so I can cook and see the freshly made meals in front of my eyes and the happiness in others’ eyes while enjoying it. Once in a while, I feel like I am closer to my parent than ever, despite the fact that we are time zones apart and half a hemisphere away from each other. My heart aches a bit but also I feel a sense of closeness and deep connection to my mom and my dad and my brother. I look forward to that one day when we can be together again, and happily cook and enjoy a happy meal together.

Tears start to roll down my cheeks as I feel a sharp pain in my heart realizing that everyone in my family is so far apart at this moment.

I feel sad.

Yet I also feel connected to them so much more at the same time.

I miss my mom’s home-cooked meals, and I grow even more appreciative of the silent sacrifice that she made to create a happy meal for us to enjoy every day.

I realized that behind every enjoyment and happiness, there’s always a hidden silent sacrifice from someone else. As we sit and enjoy our next meal or drink, we can be thankful that someone else out there has worked diligently with their own time, efforts, and care to bring food to the table for us to enjoy.

The thought of this makes me feel that we are all connected as part of one big family, living and building more happy meals and happiness for one another.

With lots of love and appreciation for ordinary things in life,

August 25th, 2017


You can also explore my previous writings on Medium or on my Blog.

I would really appreciate any comment or feedback :D

)

Tuongvan Le

Written by

Harvard ’17 | Strategy & Data @ Opendoor | ex-Bain, Morgan Stanley | Passionate about writing, education, community empowerment | www.tuongvanle.me

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