Yoots

You know, I find that with each birthday, I actually enjoy getting older. Unlike my mom who absolutely fears age or being thought of as old, I don't mind it one bit. Thinking back to younger days, I have always had responsibility. I was always taking care of my brother when my parents had to run their business. I was expected to do the right thing and take care of whatever needed to be done.

My mom was recently telling someone about the time I flew back to Taiwan alone to pick up my grandparents and accompany them back to the U.S. This took place one summer when I was eleven. She was saying how responsible and brave I was to undertake something of that magnitude at that age, etc. I remember that trip and it didn't feel like an extraordinary feat. It was just another responsibility to take care of.

I flew there with a classmate and she was a horrible influence on me. I remember we trashed the restrooms a number of times and I watched the flight attendants clean up our mess, replenishing after shave which we used to write obscene messages on the mirrors. As much as I was responsible in so many ways, I was still a kid. Sometimes I forget that I did, on occasion, live like a regular child and did mischievious child-like things, but only on days when there was a bad influential source around. It feels good to be older. Age ain't nuthin' but a numba.