Crashing a wedding banquet, translated…
The day after my mother-in-law had a minor stroke, she’d, wanted to head back to her hometown of Hsinchu to visit. After she fell ill, she’d not needed to be hospitalized, but, she’d become, a bit, immobilized. “I don’t need a cane yet”, caring too much of her appearance, she sounded she was, betting with God. And, for this, she’d not wanted, to travel too far from home for a long while.
The following day, we drove around Hsinchu, so my mother-in-law who was, immobilized, can see her hometown that she misses so very much through the windows. At around noon, we’d, arrived at a small town, my husband steadied my mother-in-law, looked toward the woods not far from where we are, on the other side where my husband couldn’t drive across, was a huge piece of land that is, owned by my husband’s, family, with the weeds, growing on the land that’s, gone to, waste. “Actually, before your father died, he’d, talked of what he wanted to do with this patch of land, otherwise, it’s, such a shame, letting it, go to waste like this”, there was, that scent of, unwillingness in my mother-in-law’s, voice. My husband told her, “Don’t think about it too much, I’ll just, take you here every once in a while.”, like that song that’s, been sung repeatedly, this was, how the conversations ended, every time there’s, a discussion on the matter.
The midday sun was so bright I couldn’t, open my eyes, we’d, stayed here for only a little while, then, gone to find a place to dine. There’s, no place we could eat in, only the scattered townsfolk, waking around. We drove around town two, three times, and finally, there’s, this large restaurant made with the temporary steel shacks, we’d walked closer, and, found the sign that showed how there’s a wedding banquet on, we were, hesitant, when a middle-aged woman came outside, smiled, “You can still have a meal here, it’s just, that you don’t have the choices of what you get, the chefs will whip up a few dishes for you”, so we’d, followed her in, and, turned out, behind the frames, was the place of the wedding banquet, the three of us were, set up at the small round table, closest to the entrance, we looked like, guests who’d, arrived late to the party.
As the emcee was, enthusiastic, introducing the newlywed couple’s parents, we’d, offered our applauses as well. In the past few months, because of my mother-in-law’s suddenly fallen ill, there’s, this heavy air in our homes, and, the joys of this newlywed couple had, added some light to my life suddenly. The dishes came one by one, and, the mic got passed from person to person, offering their blessings to the newlywed, and, we never stopped, our mouths, from chewing.
illustration from UDN.com
As the chicken soup was being served, the newlywed was, toasting everybody, thanking the loved ones for coming, my mother-in-law was reminded of something, pointed to her slanted mouth due to her stroke, “Does my mouth still look slanted today?”, she’d asked me, I’d replied, “no, I really can’t tell, you look, wonderful”, she’d flashed that smile for comfort, and started, drinking the chicken soup. I watched her and thought, that I hope, I can, treat my own aging process with such ease, and that I will, keep on, sharing the moments of wonder I’d accumulated, with my loved ones.
Don’t’ know when the toasting party came around the tables, I’d traded gazes with my husband, what do we do, if they’d come to toast us too? After we’d discussed, we’d thought, that it would, ruined the celebration if we explained too much, instead, we should all just, smile, and offer our congratulations to the newlywed.
In the noises, they’d arrived to before us, we’d, stood up, and, offered the toast to the newlywed and their families, “Congratulations!”, and maybe it’s because how we’d, crashed the wedding, we’d felt, that look of question in the family’s face, like they’re, questioning our, identities, both the parents of the bride and the groom looked at each other, after toasting us back, seemed to be asking, “are they, related, to you?”, and we can all, smile dryly. “Actually, we were here in the restaurant for a meal”, my husband blurted this aloud, then, forced that light smile on his face. The parents of the newlywed were, stumped, then, they’d, laughed and told us welcome, that if we have the chance, we should all, get together, for another, drink, then, we’d, toasted again.
I’d, offered my toast, with my whole heart, offered this, unknown couple my best blessings, grateful for this, coincidental affinity, to add that moment of joy in our lives that’s been, cast with shadows of late, maybe, lifetimes ago, we were, once, related.
And so, this is, how you’d, crashed a wedding, and, although you don’t know the newlywed couple personally, but your blessings for them was, genuine, and, you’d only, met everybody on that wedding banquet you and your family accidentally, crashed into.