I am sure some of the readers, whoever that may be, want to know what happens to the 10-year-old boy. Such a dramatic boy! I learned with great relief from his mother that he is doing okay after getting back home. Like fish back to water, so darling and life-saving. He has never been this happy before.

First, he is happy being with his classmates, who envied him greatly for having the opportunity to go to America. They like the American chocolates that he brought back. While in America, he seldom communicated with his English-speaking classmates, back in China, he is able to talk all the time in his native language. Language problem disappeared. Feeling on top of the world now. A plus point.

Back home, his mother is sitting by him all the time when he is studying and his father plays tennis or some other sports with him. The grandma (my mother) comes to see him very often. He often has another aunt and another big cousin, bigger than my son. He is never without company. While he was in America, I never had this much time for him, either busy at work or doing household work or something else. I don’t even have time for my own children. To further enhance his sense of loneliness, my daughter and he were not even talking to each other. Poor baby. Now all the loneliness is gone. Another big plus!

There are more varieties of food in China than here. He always gets what he asks from his mother. Not with me. I am not used to spoil anyone. Plus I am more stingy than his mother, though I had improved a lot with him. More weight gain. Oops! A minus if he is not already on the heavy side.

The biggest plus is the greatest relief that I have felt since he left! Too great to be expressed in any language! Like a mountain taking off my back, I feel as light as a swallow, true to my name. Sometimes, I feel like screaming out of the maximum capacity of my lung, just to express how relieved that I feel. Yes, I know how selfish I am. It is called self-preservation, that everybody is entitled to.

East or west, home is best. No wonder E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial wants to phone home when he first sees a telephone. I am happy so far.