Me and My Mum

** When this was originally posted, I said that chrysanthemums are "hoa mai" in Vietnamese. And I am soooo wrong. They are not hoa mai, but are "hoa cuc". But, they are still beautiful! My apologies for the mistake -- I'm forgetting my Vietnamese too quickly! -HAT, 2/2/08

The trip to San Jose was great. I ate too much, and spent too much money, but I did manage to buy a huge yellow mum -- so gorgeous. I've never seen a mum as beautiful before, so I happily handed over $20 and headed home, just me and my mum, seat-belted to the back seat next to Paco. Anyway, the golden mum is an auspicious symbol of beauty and good fortune because in Vietnamese, it is called "mai" (btw, my mother's name), which sounds similar to "may" as in "may man" or "lucky". For new year's celebration, it is important to fill our homes with symbols of good luck. This is a central belief -- that if we surround ourselves with goodness and luck, then we will ourselves inherit such goodness. Even though I usually don't believe in those things, as we enter into the Year of the Rat, I feel good about having such beauty in the house. It can only be a good thing to know that we ourselves are carriers of goodness, and knowing that such goodness comes from within, just as it surrounds us in the images of simple flowers, well, it's just wonderment over and over and over.

The photo is courtesy of Paco.