transitional tears

even though it is most difficult to bring change within your family, some pivotal moments happened this week that I feel changed things for the better.

first some realizations: my family is extremely negative toward each other. i mean my brother would end every one of his statements with "stupid" or "dumbass." the way my mother jokes aroud is pretty negative too. actually....most of everyone's jokes here are sarcastic because they just can't seem to say it straight to my face what my flaws are. and this is where i stand in the eyes of the family. i have flawed. all they know of me is not my redemption but my past. let me explain further: in high school i raised hell. i stayed out late at night. i brought boys over and they slept over, in the same room, in the same bed. i snuck out. i didn't pick up my mother's phone calls until the 21st one. i knew better but didn't act on it. i tore down these walls as if i owned the place. in reality, i didn't pay for my car. i didn't pay for my health insurance. i didn't pay for this house. in reality, i was living under my parents' roof and my gramma's traditions. in their eyes, presentation, respect, and dignity were important.

so here i am....feeling as if i've changed for the better. positive thinker, able to help out the house, feeling like there is a celebration waiting at the door when i arrive. at first, it seemed so. every one was so nice. my mother cut me fruit. my gramma made me food....a lot of it. no one seemed to comment on my weight. people asked me questions as though they were generally interested in my life. as the phonograph stopped spinning and the party balloons deflated, the critiques came flying through the window.

so the drama comes filtering in. aunts and cousins tell my gramma that i am unhappy here at home. that i turned down jobs because i was told to come home. i really was told to come home, but of course, people forget the things they tell a person. plus, it's easier to save your own ass and make the other person look like the ass. so i look like the ass for calling out my immediate family and for hurting them. to deal with my immediate family is to also deal with my 6 sets of aunts and uncles, and my 27 other cousins. everyone's got their ears on the door waiting to hear about my next disappointing act. the next thing i do to burden my immediate family. i'm second in line and of course i should be more responsible. but everyone knows that even when i was a baby, i cried every time i woke up, and i wanted to run away to new york in the second grade. i would take my clothes off just to prove that i only needed my self to go. lesson learned: keep my mouth shut. third-accounts are usually not accurate and people surely get what i said twisted...a lot of the times.

christopher came up here on saturday and stayed a good 5 days. the first night we slept in the same bed together. the next morning i get a call from my mother yelling at me that he has to sleep outside in the living room. i get a call from my brother yelling at me because my aunt has just yelled at gramma for telling me to come home. the weather is gloomy this day. i don't feel like eating the food my gramma made, which is a sign of rejection. these acts of service aren't my primary love language. i'm a words-of-affirmation-type. sometimes people aren't aware of their tones when they yell. i am sensitive to tones, especially if they reach an outdoors-voice decibel in my ear at 10 am. of course, christopher and i sleep in the living room. i stay on the floor and he sleeps on an airbed. we dare to reside in the microscopic eyes of the entire immediate family. "see? we aren't doing anything? we just want to sleep!" so we do for the following four nights. lesson learned: if you do what they want, they can't say anything to you.

an extremely large argument broke out between my brother and my sister. it's really difficult to stay out of an argument when there are no walls in the house. i tried to hide my room. christopher was on the bed quietly listening too. this seems to always happen when i am home. instead of jumping right in and yelling, i try to mediate. so does judy, my older sister. she and i are the mediators. there were definitely times when we both got a little heated and wanted to jump in but it was good we kept each other in check. i see my brother's anger parallel my father's. i think i have that same anger. but i try really hard to control it. we are all crying: my brother, my sister, christopher in the room, my gramma, and me. i bring my gramma into her room because 1) she is too old to be hearing this, 2) she is too old to understand that this argument is necessary for us siblings, 3) she kept cutting people off when it was their turn to talk. so e take turns, saying what we needed to say, decoding it for each other. and calling out each other's flaws. it wasn't easy. this took 3 hours. it is when i see my sister rage with anger and frustration that i understand what i must have looked like when i was younger. so i finally see my role: to tell my younger sister that she shouldn't grow up to try to be me. my brother and my sister are trying to save her from walking my path. christopher even came out into the living room after his shower and helped mediate. lessons learned: people want someone to listen to them; others want to get credit for their efforts; and others need to initiate service to help lessen the burdens of life.

i also fell in love with christopher. there was no more hiding my past. yes, i am the way i am for a reason. you can trace it back. i rebelled against my family so everything they wanted i did the opposite. tons of back story to share. he held me when i broke down. he sat and listened when my siblings were transformed into monsters. he ate my gramma's food even though his gut was going to explode. (he gained 4 pounds.) he made my family laugh. he reminded me that this dimension may not be the best but we were together and that's enough. he makes me want to slow down and cry happier tears. he inspires me to be better, more family-focused and family-oriented. he never left me and that's more commitment than i could ever ask for.

the days after that seemed a lot easier and better. i know i have the time and pleasure to listen to other people. not only within my immediate family, but the extended too want some love too. it is harder to filter this love out to them though. there is a meditation method called tonglin. you inhale the negative air and exhale a positive thought, love, or emotion. i learned that the power of empathy is that i can take so much of this family's negativity and still love them. unconditionally for all that they do and don't provide me. i know that these traditional social rules aren't how i want to live and it motivates me to get out. there is no rush. time moves slowly here. i am learning that being with family isn't just a two-second wave on ring road. to be with family is usually a five hour thing. and i've got time. i feel like i'm making time to help. i feel like i'm taking initiative. i feel like i'm giving back.....or kissing ass, for now.

and even though i'm not contacting everyone who has helped me. their voices, their stories, and their wisdoms flash through me, are lived through me in real life! big ups to sherweezy, mike knox, kevin, flai, spop staff, jhust, suj, ray ray, edi dai, DTR, susan diep, all of DOS, and the students. i really do miss uci and the good people there.