No pressure, Rich. Seriously. No pressure!
When my brother Rich told me that his new girlfriend was Chinese, I wasn’t any more or less excited than when I found out my husband was 100% Polish back when we first started dating. But then Rich told me she was, like, literally from China. That was absolutely intriguing! Living in a small town in the Florida panhandle, I’m not exposed to much cultural variety. And other than going to England for a week in 8th grade and visiting a handful of Caribbean islands and Mexico, I haven’t exactly traveled the world. The potential for having someone in my family who grew up in China, speaks Chinese fluently, cooks real Chinese food instead of the fake American Chinese food, not to mention would make beautiful nieces and nephews for me… well, this is all very exciting for me! You know Kristen Wiig’s SNL skit where she plays the part of Sue, who is “so frickin’ excited” about the surprise party? THAT is how excited I am about Ran potentially being in my family.
p.s. – Lest you think of me as being shallow, I actually like Ran for reasons not related to her being Chinese. Her ancestry is just the icing on the cake.
I don’t want to brag, but I hopped on the “Has a Chinese In-Law” band wagon back in 2005. My brother married an incredible woman from Taiwan, and she has been an amazing addition to our family. Besides the fact that my niece is the CUTEST thing I have ever seen, she makes us a traditional 12-course Chinese meal at Christmas every year, celebrates Chinese New Year in February/March of every year, mumbles in Chinese whenever she gets overwhelmed, and tries her best not to seem freaked out when faced with our crazy family. I love the culture she has added to our family, and I love that she is passing that on to my niece, who, at two, speaks more chinese than our entire family combined