What I Miss About Home

In my family, we have relatives who moved oversea since long time ago. When I was young, they were people that I always heard about from the grown-ups but never saw them in person. Occasionally, the uncles and aunts from oversea came home to visit us. Even though I didn’t know them, I was happy to see them back because they brought back candies and toys. Every time the aunts or uncles came back and saw me, the conversation went like this: “ Do you remember me? You grow so much taller. Last time I came back, you were like this tall (they put their hands at certain height and showed it to me). And we went to this place and that place together.” I would have an awkward smile on my face and didn’t know how to answer them because I didn’t remember.

Now, I am the person who the grown-ups tell to the young children at home. Last year when I went back to China to my grandma’s house, my five-year-old cousin wouldn’t open the door for me because he was not supposed to open the door for a stranger (I did this to one of my aunts when I was little too). My family and I all found this funny that how children forgot their family because they didn’t see them often. This makes me realize how much time I miss out with my family when I live so far away from them. Every time I go back, I see the big changes in people. Last time I left, my cousin was a kindergartener, and this year when I went back, he attended first grade and could speak Mandarin fluently (We speak Cantonese at home). I don’t really miss my family that much but I wish I can spend more time with them to see the young children grow up little by little and accompany the elder. So I don’t become a stranger to my family back home.