Jing-Mei Woo
*Five months ago, after a crab dinner celebrating Chinese New Year, my mother gave me my 'life's importance,' a jade pendant on a gold chain.
*The pendant was not a piece of jewelry I would have chosen myself.
*It was almost the size of my little finger, a mottled green and white color, intricately carved.
*To me, the whole effect looked wrong: too large, too green, too garishly ornate.
*I stuffed the necklace in my lacquer box and forgot about it.
*But these days, I think about my life's importance.
*I wonder what it means, because my mother died three months ago, six days before my thirty-six birthday.
*And she's the only person I could have asked, to tell me about life's importance, to help me understand my grief.
*I now wear the pendant everyday. I think the carvings mean something, because shapes and details, which I never seem to notice until after they're pointed out to me, always mean something to Chinese people (Tan, 197).
Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. Penguin Books, 2014, pp. 197-288.
Hi again, Laura!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading these passages because they reminded of my father. He is not dead, thank God, but he gave me a necklace and a ring (both purple) before I came to the US, so I could always remember him.
It is interesting how we start to pay attention to small things after our beloveds have passed away, right? That's why I try to enjoy time with my family the best I can...