Chinese Version
09-11-2017
My son always let me cut his hair.
A few years ago I saw some Latino boys eagerly ask for special hair styles in HongXiao’s barber shop. After that I tried to encourage my son to get his hair cut at a professional barber shop but he didn’t follow my advice…
Today, my son finally went to HongXiao’s barber shop and got a nice hair cut from Hong, a very good barber, who I have known for many years now.
While cutting my son’s hair, Hong chatted with me about children. My son knew we were talking about kids, even though his Chinese is not very good.
Both Hong and I agreed that “my children are the best” is a common weakness of many mothers. At the end of our conversation, Hong, with her TianJin dialect and emotion said: “Brought up by ourself, of course we love our children! As an old saying goes: ‘One who raises cats loves cats, one who raises dogs loves dogs and one who raises none loves none.’”
“Are you talking about cats and dogs?” my son curiously asked, because he knew we were talking about children earlier.
I told him that Aunt Hong used cats and dogs to metaphor “Who raises who loves.”
My son nodded his head.
After coming back home, I saw gardenia were blooming in the front yard, I bent down to pick a fully blooming gardenia and passed it to my son. He smelled it and said: “It’s OK.” implying that he is not fond of the sweet smell of gardenia. Actually, my daughter said her honest thoughts: “The smell of gardenia is too strong to be nearby.”
Today is the anniversaries of 911, looking at my handsome son after a nice hair cut and the blooming gardenia, my sentiments about life were enhanced a bit. I told him the story behind the reason I planted gardenia again. The gardenia in the front yard always reminds me of my son, because it was planted for him.
A famous Chinese poem praised gardenia as such: the red fruits were hardened by the winter’s cold frost, the ever green leaves were blessed by the summer’s warm rain. Wish my children become like the gardenia being blessed and hardened. Wish they possess the foundations to enjoy this changing world fully.
Little Episodes
In September 2014, late gardenia were blooming beautifully
(September 2014. Gardenia usually bloom in the summer, this year the gardenia in our front yard happily bloomed in September. The weather in California is always kind to plants: late gardenia buds always have a chance to bloom beautifully with sweet fragrances. Late blooming gardenia bring enlightenment and hope: “Suitable environments will enable opportunities for children who mature slower than normal. “)
My son got a nice hair cut:
