Hi son, for this letter, I prefer writing in Vietnamese (I love that!) but you like to read it in English, so, here you go, feel free to correct any mistake you find out.
As many mothers do in their kid’s birthday, I could write about the day you were born, how difficult it was and how happy our family did feel, but you would tell me then: “mom, don’t repeat a ton of times something I have known”. So, I try to write something different although I understand why parents often repeat that story year by year, they know one day the kid would recall it as the sweetest thing of his life and it not only somehow answered questions who he was, where he did come from, it also may help him pass lonely feeling in his life…
Alright, tomorrow you will be 14 years old; I can’t believe how fast the time flies… I still remember a small boy followed me everywhere in a small town …
Tomorrow… you become the person you imagine yourself eventually. What can I do for you? Just some small things for preparation like what I did for you when you went for school trips. But life is not simple and having fun as a trip just last 2 or 3 days and I am not always there with you. So, you may think that I am difficult when I ask you prepare more for the life but there are some realistic things you should know, life is not easy, your generation has to face with many difficulties, please be stronger for a tougher tomorrow. Try to understand what is going on with this planet by study; try to figure out what is the better way to live the life.
Son, you are a child of crossing cultures, please take advantages of that instead of disadvantages. For a while I consider you as my friend, we can discus many items everyday, I am happy with your improvement, I am proud of your intelligence, even your stubbornness can make me laugh. I let you speak freely what you want to share and because of that I know what your shortage is. Frankly speaking, you often criticize what I admire, when I tried to convince you how special Hồ Xuân Hương’poems were, you did not agree with me, you said reverted-word-trick (trò nói lái) was stupid, that’s it. Even Kiều (Nguyễn Du), the best one of Vietnamese literatures I have been known also doesn’t touch you up to now, you asked me why he had borrowed a story from China... oh, that was my failure if you poorly know about the beauty of Vietnamese literature… Except Vietnamese foods, you don’t like other things come from Vietnam, no music, no opera (chèo, cải lương). When I asked you listen cải lương pieces sang by me, you told me: “Vietnamese people seem always keep sadness inside and cover it until they sing cải lương they will cry it out for long time, I don’t want to listen a long cry”…
However, the day before yesterday when I told you the new in Time about Vietnamese mathematician Ngo Bao Chau, you were surprised and excited. You spend a lot of time to google and read about his work although you don’t understand any at all. You admire him very much, me too, this time we agree totally with each other!
Happy birthday to you, son!
