Blue Moon 藍月亮

In a family like ours, there is always something to discuss, something to explore because of our diverse life histories. It happens every day and this makes our lives interesting.  

August 22, 2021, was a Blue Moon night. It made me think of the two English idioms I learned "out of the blue" and "once in a blue moon". When something happens unexpectedly or without warning, people say it's "out of the blue". Does it refer to a blue, clear sky from which nothing unusual is expected? Must be. As for "once in a blue moon" this idiom is used when something happens very rarely or never. As a Chinese, I thought that Americans do like the color blue :-) It was surprising to find out that there was a blue moon on August 23, 1964, the year Curtis and I, both dragons, were born!  

Curtis bought Blue Moon beer and was very excited to cheer and celebrate with me. I haven't seen him in a while like that, hyper like a young boy :-) and I like to see him that way! Unfortunately, it was a cloudy night. The moon was trying hard to pull away from the clouds and show through but the sky was too murky. At 2 o'clock in the morning I was woken up by Curtis and ran outside. Through my sleepy eyes, I saw two half-crossed pancakes hanging in the sky above our backyard. Hahaha. It was not blue! 

My son Will took off from LA to Beijing on the blue moon day. After 13 hours of flight, he landed in Tianjin, a municipality with a population of 16 million and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea . By the regular route the airplane should have landed in Beijing, that was on the air ticket. But Covid changed things. No matter as the distance from Tianjin to Beijing is just a couple of hours by car. 

The passengers were kept seated for four hours in the airplane while waiting to be tested for COVID-19. Assisted by two dozen staff members standing in a line like a human wall, Will and the other passengers walked through and boarded a shuttle bus to a hotel. There he will be quarantined for two weeks. After 24 hours of quarantine, we had our first video chat and I got my first peek at the details. Will was washing his clothes by hand, something he hasn't done in years. 

Unlike some of the quarantined passengers, my son is not a complainer. On the contrary, he was satisfied with the arrangement. He has a room with twin beds. Three meals were delivered on schedule by the door and food variation was good despite the portions being large for him. He was so full after eating that he never got a chance to eat the fruit. There was a pear and an apple left on the desk. This was his first quarantine day. I warned him not to be a little piggy and recommended some physical exercises. The travel yoga mat I gave him found good use. I told my son that my arm balances were getting better every day. He's never tired of telling me that I am the coolest mom in the world. We are proud of each other. 

 

Funky Lizard

在像我們這樣的家庭結構中，不同的生活經曆總有一些事情要需要澄清和討論。幾乎每天都在發生這樣的事情。生活還是蠻有趣的。

 

2021 年 8 月 22 日是一個藍月亮之夜。我想起見過的兩個英語成語“out of the blue”和“one in a blue moon”。當事情發生意外或沒有警告時，人們會說這是“out of the blue出乎意料”。它是指沒有任何異常情況的蔚藍、晴朗的天空嗎？一定是吧。至於“once in a blue moon”，這個成語用在很少或從來沒有發生過的事情。作為中國人，我想美國人確實喜歡藍色吧 :-)  令人驚訝的是，1964 年 8 月 23 日有一個藍色的月亮，而那年柯蒂斯和我這兩條龍出生了！

 

柯蒂斯買了藍月亮牌啤酒，高高興興要和我一起慶祝藍月亮。我可有一段時間沒看到他那樣了，像個小男孩一樣興奮:-) 我蠻喜歡看他那樣的！不巧這是一個多雲的夜晚。月亮努力地從雲層中拉開露出來，但天空太陰沉雲層太厚了。半夜2點我被柯蒂斯叫醒赤腳跑到外麵。透過我昏昏欲睡的眼看到了後院上方的天空中懸掛著兩個半交叉的煎餅。哈哈哈。它不是藍色的！

 

我兒威爾在藍月的那一天洛杉磯飛往北京。經過13個小時的飛行他降落在天津這個擁有1600萬人口的直轄市和中國北方渤海之濱的沿海大都市。按正常航線飛機應該降落在北京，機票上也這麽顯示的。但是因為疫情一切都變了。盡管從天津到北京的距離隻有兩個幾個小時的車程。

 

乘客在飛機上坐了四個小時等著接受檢查。然後大家穿過由二十多位工作人員做成的人牆，威爾和其他乘客登上了前往酒店的班車。他將在那裏隔離兩周。隔離 24 小時後我們進行了第一次視頻聊天，我看到寫酒店的室內細節。威爾正在用手洗衣服，好多年他都沒有用手洗過東西了。

 

與某些被隔離的乘客不同我兒子不是一個抱怨者。他反而對這樣的安排還比較滿意。兩張單人床的房間，一日三餐按時送到門口，份量對他來說有點大，菜品還算多樣化。他吃了飯就沒有地方連吃水果了。我倆通話時桌子上還放者一個梨和一個蘋果。這是他隔離的第一天。老媽我警告他可不要養小豬額，可以鍛煉一下啦。威爾帶著我給他的旅行瑜伽墊很好用。我得瑟給兒子說我的手臂平衡每天都在變好一點點。而我兒他從不厭倦告訴我我是世界上最酷的老媽。我們為彼此感到驕傲。

（初稿於2021-08-25）