Family Dynamics
By Min Jung. Filed in General |
Are a cruel and hilarious cocktail.
Take for instance my past week where I returned from Michigan where I got to see my family all together to celebrate my dad’s triumphant 70th birthday. We ate well, laughed, ate some more, joked a little, and suffered only a touch of embarrassment associated with my family poking and prodding at J. and the s plans for our impending wedding.
There was a little issue about my weight gain.
Mind you, I’m not a huge girl. I’m about a size 8 now. And at age of 33 it’s fully within the BMI Standards for healthy.
And while yes, this is the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life, I’m probably not as stressed out about it as a girl might be with less than 6 weeks away to the wedding. (He’s going to marry me anyway after all, so what ever.)
But my stepmom’s belly poking at me and my father saying with great exclamatory punctuation ‘FAHT GURL!” while pointing at me didn’t really put me in the best of humors.
But I really love my Dad.
I really really really really love my dad.
So all I could really say was, “Happy Birthday Daddy. Good job not dying.”
Sunday, November 4th 2007 at 5:35 am
So it’s not just Hong Kong Chinese who don’t think twice about saying, upon first time seeing you in x number of year: “Wow, you’ve got fat/put on weight/turned into a big boy” etc etc
Sunday, November 4th 2007 at 7:07 am
It’s good to know that any family is willing to point and comment at weight gain. I thought it was just an Italian thing.
I guess it’s just a human thing.
Sunday, November 4th 2007 at 7:49 am
The “faht girl” comment require the delicate nuances of cussin’… “F U dad. F u.” right in his good ear! Would have been loving and appropriate. But that’s just my $.02.
Sunday, November 4th 2007 at 7:54 am
Families have such a wonderful way of boosting your self confidence don’t they? My mom does the same thing every time she sees me. There’s always a comment about my weight / hair / clothes.
Sunday, November 4th 2007 at 7:56 am
Ah.. first that 30’s weight gain (perfectly natural) then the family commenting. These are the reasons I don’t miss seeing family! (it’s been 5 years). Except.. now that I’ve lost the weight, I want to rub it in their faces. Again typical!
Congrats on the pending nuptials, congrats on your dad’s new decade. Congrats on the healthy BMI.
Friday, November 9th 2007 at 7:46 pm
Wow.. and here I thought it was just my mom. Imagine visiting the parents weekly and every time (all the time).. the mom is constantly looking at your mid section and making ‘tsk’ sounds. Or comments like, “How disgusting, you look like an overstuffed sausage!!!”