Chinese Version
11-05-2021, Friday, Sunny
On a sunny Friday in the late autumn on the East Coast, the news of life and death coming together made me feel the love across the ocean and recall the help I received more than 20 years ago. Happy Friday has a new meaning, as kindness is fresh and ever-lasting.
Lying in bed in the morning, I opened the Wechat and saw the greeting from my aunt in Zigong: “Hello Jingchuan, your father is all right, please rest assured.” along with a recent photo of my 92-years-old father sitting in a wheelchair in a checkered cotton-padded jacket. The news from my hometown across the ocean in the morning gave my Friday start warmth and sweetness, because I felt my aunt’s love and care.
In the morning, I sat in front of the computer, opened my email and saw Alisa had forwarded two emails about Arlene’s funeral service last night.
I had never met Arlene in person. I met Arlene for the first time at the Zoom party celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of my doctoral advisor Ronnie and his wife Alisa in July 2021. I saw Arlene as an old, kind and smiling grandmother and thought she was a friend of Alisa, so I didn’t pay much attention to her, until some old friends of Ronnie and Alisa talked about the people and things of earlier VSL period on Zoom and I heard Arlene say, “I’m glad to hear you talking about my Pete.” Afterward, I knew that she was the wife of Professor Pete Macedo, the big boss of VSL laboratory, and a sense of gratitude arose in me.
In 1994, Professor Macedo and Ronnie gave me extraordinary help when my six month old daughter was very ill with congenital heart disease, which was very expensive to treat and which my international student medical insurance would not cover at that time. I had to quit my job as a research assistant and go under the poverty line in order to apply for social welfare to treat my daughter’s illness. At that time, VSL quickly handled the dismissal procedure to me. A few months later, when my daughter’s condition had improved, VSL allowed me to return to the laboratory to continue to be a research assistant with funding, which was a considerable and stable source of income at that time. When I was under tough times and felt despair, I often thought of the people who helped me during these extremely difficult times. Professor Macedo is one of the people I often think of.
Recalling the help given to me by Professor Macedo more than 20 years ago in 1994, I feel strongly that the people who have passed away and their kindness will last forever. May Arlene and her Pete be happy together ever after now.
I am also trying to become a person who is capable of being kind. I think that’s one of the best ways to thank the people who have helped me.
Little Episodes
1. Happy Fridays in Silicon Valley:
Visiting San Jose Rose Garden(2017)
My pretty red toenails(2017)
A software engineer’s Friday(2016)
A Friday on the beach (2016)
A Friday lunch gathering
2. My aunt’s message to me：”Hello Jingchuan, your father is all right, please rest assured.”
3. About Prof. Macedo and VSL I found on internet:
Pedro Manoel Buarque de Macedo
JULY 16, 1938 – SEPTEMBER 19, 2016
“The VSL, under his leadership, researched and developed methods for the safe containment of disposed radioactive materials, primarily by converting nuclear waste into solid glass using vitrification techniques. VSL’s vitrification, or glassification, of radioactive waste has prevented that waste from leaching into groundwater or soil。”
4. VSL and I
Macedo is a professor in the Department of physics and VSL and the Department of physics shared a four story building. Many of VSL’s research was done by graduate students from the Department of chemistry. At that time, we joked: “chemistry is a panacea, which can be applied to everywhere.”
Red flowering quince in CUA.
My mother’s letter in the 1990s.
Kang once commented: “Your lunch is very greasy.”.
Ru’s husband described how to steam fish in detail.