Yesterday was Chinese New Year Eve. After work, Mr. W and I went to my grandma’s house, where my parents were already poised to dig into a Chinese feast, to ring in the new Year of the Rat. (That’s right — if you’re pregnant now, you’re going to hatch a rug rat.)

At one point during dinner, my grandma asked Mr. W in broken English (plus a lot of gesturing) whether he voted in the Primaries on Tuesday. He said that he didn’t, even tho he’d intended to. I obviously didn’t cuz I was at work late and then I went to Vicky’s to do my parents’ taxes until midnight. Turned out my parents didn’t vote, either. My grandma raised her hand proudly. “I did,” she said. We looked at each other.
“So at this entire table, the ONLY ONE who was a good citizen is grandma?” I said.
My mom said dismissively, “She always votes. She also votes in the Taiwan elections. She flies back every year to vote.”
My grandma said, “I vote 91, and I vote 92…” which I took to mean she’s been voting annually for the past 18 years. Turned out, as she started saying “yes”es and “no”s, that she was telling us how she voted on the propositions. She’s informed on the propositions, too? I felt like a putz as she showed everyone her new “I voted!” sticker, which she had in a protective plastic sleeve. Haha.

After dinner, we had an exchange of gifts. Mr. W had designed and embroidered a circle featuring all the animals of the Chinese zodiac, the Chinese word for that animal next to the animal, and the English word for the animal. My dad’s animal (boar) and my mom’s animal (dragon), with their Chinese characters, are on either side of this zodiac wheel. He made a similar one for my grandma with her animal, and framed both. They were impressed and my mom remarked how Mr. W is like my paternal grandfather, who used to make me clothing and baby comforters. Traditionally, the older generation gives the younger generation(s) red envelopes of money, so Mr. W and I made out. We made out so much, in fact, that I felt guilty and returned half of what my grandma gave me and Mr. W did the same. Of course she wouldn’t simply take it back, so my mom stealthily stole a new red envelope from my grandma’s bedroom and gave it to me, and I stuffed it with $120, wrote “To Grandma, Happy New Year! From Cindy and [Mr. W]” on it, and propped it up against her toothbrush in her bathroom.
“You have to call her when you leave and tell her it’s there,” my mom said.
“She’s going to see it, it’s on her toothbrush.”
“Call her! What if she misses it?”
“Only if doesn’t brush her teeth!”
“Call her!!”
“All right!”

When my parents and we (us?) parted ways at my grandma’s door, my mom said her goodbyes to us and said, “Call her!”
“Okay!”

When Mr. W and I were walking to his car at the parking area, my parents, who’d gotten to their cars first, drove by us. My mom paused her car in front of us, rolled down her passenger side window, and called out her car, “Call your grandma!”
“Okay!!!!”

I forgot to call her.