With his mother’s visit, I think of many things about this young relative. He came in May 2006, initially planning to go for a graduate study. Since he wasn’t able to pass TOEFL, he was in a language program till spring of 2008.

In the summer of 2007, when my son and his friend worked on their company, I thought it a good opportunity for him to learn English while working with them. But then it was thought that he should concentrate on his English that summer so that he would be able to pass the exam in August and start a graduate program. If that happened, everybody was happy and we would drive to Boston to send my son to college.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. When he failed the exam again, everybody was in a bad mood, especially the young man’s parents in China. The young man was so mad that he threatened to go back to China immediately. I still don’t understand why he was so mad. His mother talked to me earnestly over the Internet, asking me to talk him out of this back-to-China idea. He took one more semester of language that fall and was able to get through the beginning of the next year. It seems like yesterday. And my son is already the third year college student.

It was two years since he enrolled in this graduate program. It will be four years by next May since his arrival here. Now his mother is coming to celebrate his graduation.