Alicia and ChiuLan

As time has gone on, how has your relationship with your mother changed? (隨著年歲的增長，妳們母女關係有怎麼樣的變化?)

For as long as I can remember, my most meaningful conversations with my mom have taken place on car rides. She’s always chauffeuring me to classes that I wanted to take and events that I wanted to go to and all the other extra-curriculars that make a kid’s life fun. (This may or may not be my cover story for being scared of driving on my own.)
Over the years, I’ve noticed the subtle shift in how our talks are conducted. When I was little, she would take the time to teach me life lessons or, as in one of my earlier memories, recite the multiplication table. Now, we discuss events, international, national, local, personal– I can talk to her about anything, and she just brilliantly strikes the balance between loving, mentoring, listening, and mom-ing.

What is one thing that you would like your mother to know? (有那件事是妳希望讓妳的母親／女兒知道的?)

I want to give my most heartfelt, public thanks to my mom for everything she’s done for me. Only she knows the extent of that. I would also like to note that yes, I am studying for my upcoming AP test and no, I did not waste hours typing this up. Mom, don’t worry!

Is there anything else you would like to share? (還有甚麼其他妳想和大家分享的關於妳母親／女兒的事?)

I owe my love for Taiwanese culture to my mom. Since I was a baby, she has consciously immersed me in an environment where I can appreciate Taiwan, whether that means taking yearly trips back to see our extended family, starting a Taiwanese school for me because Saturday afternoon Chinese class just wasn’t cutting it, or cooking straight-from-Taiwan meals from scratch every night for the past seventeen years (though she still won’t teach me because she thinks I’ll burn the kitchen down). It brings tears to my eyes when I think about how much she’s devoted to helping me reach back to my Taiwanese roots after she and my dad uprooted their own lives to give me the American opportunity.