Birthday performance

Yesterday the children and I went to perform at a private birthday party. Basically this woman who has terminal cancer had always wanted to go to China, and so the nurses threw a party for her which was Chinese Culture themed. There was Noah and Jonah doing lion head, and then I did Kung Fu and then there were two 11 year old girls who played dulcimer. Noah was very impressed by them I think, as was the audience. There was a Chinese folk dancer, an older girl who played dulcimer and Mr. Luo who played Gaohu and then two Karaoke songs. All of the performers were somehow associated with the CCBA.

It was fun being part of a performance group that was super Chinese, travelling into an environment that was super not Chinese. It was also fun doing this only as a performer, and not the main performer, and not the organizer or anything like that. No stress.

Plus it was kind of like being part of a pirate crew, or travelling opera troupe, out on the road having little adventures, except without the hardship and inconvenience. Anyway, my kids might have preferred the playground but I think they took something away from the experience.

Because I had explained why we were going there to Noah ahead of time Noah started asking me rather loudly, while we were there why this woman was dying. I tried to shut him up but he got real pissed off at me for just having the notion that maybe we should talk about this later.

Of course we have had discussions like this before, about why my mom is not around. And recently one of my great aunts also died of cancer.

In fact, that's probably one of the reasons why I decided to go to this performance. I didn't get a chance to visit my aunt. And though I was sort of around for my mom, there were other people who were there even more so during the end of her life. People I didn't really even know.

And so I feel like even with strangers, we share in these sorts of things. The word in my head is burden. But I don't think this shared responsibility or emotion should be thought of only as a burden. It's something else.

But anyway we share this, even with strangers. The world is round (as in someone helps you so you help others.) What goes around comes around.. all that. But those sayings are so cliche that it's really more than that.

Strangers are like family sometimes. And even more so because they are strangers and because you will never know all the details and ups and downs and positives and negatives. And in another way, in a glance, you do know everything. Because they are human, just like you and the people you do know all the ups and downs and ins and outs about.