Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that my dad died last summer. He didn’t get COVID, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and went pretty fast. The worst part, I mean the absolute shit of it, was not being able to see him once he was admitted to the hospital.
So I was in Irvine with my mom and sisters until late December when I moved away again to begin grad school in person. I started a semester in, like, a month and a half ago, but everything is so chaotic for all of us, at least a lot of us are in the same boat. Like yours, it’s not a field that does very well over a computer.
I’m here now and adjusting. I like [new town redacted, though I agree at this point it’s sort of moot] a lot. I’d been at UW Madison for undergrad, I guess I can tell you that now, and it was great, but so different from California as you can imagine.
I hope you’re doing well, T. For what it’s worth, you wouldn’t be breaking any rules to message me a different day. You can email me anytime.
C.
From: [email protected]
Date: February 14, 2021
Subject: Re: Happy Early Valentine’s Day!
Oh my god, C, I am so sorry about your dad. I don’t even know what to say, this is just devastating. I’m so sorry for you and your mom and sisters. Ugh. I wish I could hug you.
Love,
T.
From: [email protected]
Date: February 14, 2021
Subject: Re: Happy Early Valentine’s Day!
Thanks, yeah honestly, it’s been rough. I felt bad leaving home again, too, because I realized that even though I’m the youngest, my dad took care of his girls in a way that I want to continue even though he’s gone. He kept up with everyone’s life day-to-day. He always knew what questions to ask. I want to follow in those footsteps but feel a little lost.
We’re all just figuring it out as we go.
But I really love what I’m studying right now, and everyone else in the family is doing well, considering. My oldest sister just had her first kid in January, so I’m an uncle to a baby girl now, and my middle sister is getting married this summer, so life goes on even when hard things happen.
Happy Valentine’s Day officially now. Go get some Din Tai Fung and toast a dumpling to me.
C.
From: [email protected]
Date: February 15, 2021
Subject: Breaking the rules for soup dumplings Here’s a picture for you from dinner last night. Soup dumpling and my hand holding chopsticks. I consulted the D&P and this was allowable. It was particularly delicious last night, too. I can’t stop thinking about you and your family. I know they don’t know me, but send your mom and sisters some love from me.
xo
T.
Chapter Nine
2022
From: [email protected]
Date: February 14, 2022
Subject: Look who’s back on top Happy Valentine’s Day and I’ll take my victory lap now.
From: [email protected]
Date: February 14, 2022
Subject: Re: Look who’s back on top Ahhh. I even set an alarm for midnight, but I slept right through that flimsy bitch.
From: [email protected]
Date: February 14, 2022
Subject: Re: Look who’s back on top How are you? Are you back at school or still in Irvine?
From: [email protected]
Date: February 14, 2022
Subject: Re: Look who’s back on top I’m back at school! It’s so awesome to be back on campus. I don’t think I realized how isolated I’d started to feel. Everything is amazing. Except for the snow. That is less awesome. Everyone thinks of Southern California summers as this magical time, but the best kept secret is that we have the best February of any place in the world. Summers are boob sweat and crowds.
How’s your mom doing?
From: [email protected]
Date: February 14, 2022
Subject: Re: Look who’s back on top I cannot attest to the boob sweat but agree re: crowds. And the social isolation of the pandemic must have been brutal. If we were smarter, we would have met at a park. Why didn’t we think of that?
Mom is doing pretty well. She’s always been healthy but never super into fitness per se, but got really into hiking last year, so she’s 55 and in the best shape of her life. There’s a lot of saucy “If your father could see me now’s” happening, and, quite frankly, I don’t want to know how that sentence ever ends, but I’m happy for her. She’s doing all right.