I Remember

These are the memories I'll always cherish:

My mother cooking our favorite dishes on our birthdays. Being a single mom, she didn't have much money to buy us gifts but her gift would be pulse and chicken curry for lunch and fried rice and noodles for dinner.

My boyfriend giving me a gold ring for my birthday, the first year we met. I wasn't sure he'd marry me but he was. And it's been thirty-odd years now and we're still together.

My son giving me his first paycheck. And his hugs now and then which are even more precious.

A handmade scroll was given by a student. In it, she wrote how grateful she was for the lessons of Creative Writing. The same student called me up on her birthday, a few years later, to thank me again for being one of the people who had a positive influence on her life.

These are just a few of my favorite things!