At 7:36 pm tonight — roughly an hour from when I’m writing this — it’ll have been two years since you died. I’m running out of things to write about you, but I still think about you every day. Every day, I walk by these photos sitting in our living room. And every day, I… Read More Two Years

I came across this photo last summer, when we were cleaning out my parents’ house … The only information I have on the photo is the date printed at the bottom — 7/17/2011. Aside from that, I have no idea where this was taken, or who the people with my mom are. Still, I really… Read More Random Photo, Random Thoughts

Happy birthday, mom. I still think about you every day.… Read More Happy Birthday, Mom

My mom died one year ago today.… Read More Waves of Sadness

This album is more for me than anyone else. It certainly isn’t for my mom, as she never liked being the center of attention. And it certainly isn’t for anyone out there on the internet, as these photos will undoubtedly mean nothing to you (though it would mean something to me if you actually looked at it).

Yet, for me, something about the idea of putting these photos out there, in public view, on an internet notorious for things being impossible to delete off of …

It’s like a form of security.… Read More Memories with Mom

Anyone who’s been to my parents’ house in Irvine knows about my mom’s fruit garden. Over the course of the 34 years she lived in that house, she slowly transformed a tiny stamped concrete-laden OC tract home back yard into a trove of exotic fruit trees — everything from apples and oranges to starfruit, guava,… Read More My Mom Was Dr. Frankenstein

I was a mama’s boy. For literally my entire life, my mom and I were super-close, and it started partially from necessity. When I was two years old, my dad left Taiwan to pursue a new opportunity for us in the United States. The only snafu was that it took more than three years before… Read More Nobody to Everybody Else

You hung in there for over a year, which is pretty impressive in itself. But I guess we all knew how this was going to end. I don’t know where you’ve been for the past 14 months, but I hope you’re finally at peace now. I’m touched that you waited until I submitted my last… Read More Farewell, Mom

Yesterday was exactly one year that my mom has been in a persistent vegetative state. I was drained by the end of the day, but that was more due to school than anything with my mom. I did tear up a bit at one point. But here’s the weird thing … I didn’t cry about… Read More Haunted

Hey, mom. Hi. Hey. Where are you? It’s been a year now. Do you even realize that? It was one year ago today that you decided to take a break from … well, breathing. Fortunately, the doctors were able to get your heart beating again. Unfortunately, doctors still have no idea what happened. And worst… Read More One Year …

One day soon, we’ll have to leave the older sibling in Irvine, to be cared for — and hopefully, not chopped down — by a new family.

But not Elsa. One day soon, I hope we’ll find Elsa the Wax Fruit Tree a permanent home where we can spend many years together.… Read More Meet Elsa the Wax Fruit Tree

Sometimes the days seem to drag along. Other times, the months fly by. It’s hard to process that it’s been 10 months now since my mom went into cardiac arrest. 10 months now that she’s been in a persistent vegetative state. Man, whoever coined the term really wasn’t kidding with the “persistent” part … Anyway,… Read More 10 months