Blue Moon 蓝月亮

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

在像我们这样的家庭结构中，不同的生活经历总有一些事情要需要澄清和讨论。几乎每天都在发生这样的事情。生活还是蛮有趣的。

 

2021 年 8 月 22 日是一个蓝月亮之夜。我想起见过的两个英语成语“out of the blue”和“one in a blue moon”。当事情发生意外或没有警告时，人们会说这是“out of the blue出乎意料”。它是指没有任何异常情况的蔚蓝、晴朗的天空吗？一定是吧。至于“once in a blue moon”，这个成语用在很少或从来没有发生过的事情。作为中国人，我想美国人确实喜欢蓝色吧 :-)  令人惊讶的是，1964 年 8 月 23 日有一个蓝色的月亮，而那年柯蒂斯和我这两条龙出生了！

 

柯蒂斯买了蓝月亮牌啤酒，高高兴兴要和我一起庆祝蓝月亮。我可有一段时间没看到他那样了，像个小男孩一样兴奋:-) 我蛮喜欢看他那样的！不巧这是一个多云的夜晚。月亮努力地从云层中拉开露出来，但天空太阴沉云层太厚了。半夜2点我被柯蒂斯叫醒赤脚跑到外面。透过我昏昏欲睡的眼看到了后院上方的天空中悬挂着两个半交叉的煎饼。哈哈哈。它不是蓝色的！

 

我儿威尔在蓝月的那一天洛杉矶飞往北京。经过13个小时的飞行他降落在天津这个拥有1600万人口的直辖市和中国北方渤海之滨的沿海大都市。按正常航线飞机应该降落在北京，机票上也这么显示的。但是因为疫情一切都变了。尽管从天津到北京的距离只有两个几个小时的车程。

 

乘客在飞机上坐了四个小时等着接受检查。然后大家穿过由二十多位工作人员做成的人墙，威尔和其他乘客登上了前往酒店的班车。他将在那里隔离两周。隔离 24 小时后我们进行了第一次视频聊天，我看到写酒店的室内细节。威尔正在用手洗衣服，好多年他都没有用手洗过东西了。

 

与某些被隔离的乘客不同我儿子不是一个抱怨者。他反而对这样的安排还比较满意。两张单人床的房间，一日三餐按时送到门口，份量对他来说有点大，菜品还算多样化。他吃了饭就没有地方连吃水果了。我俩通话时桌子上还放者一个梨和一个苹果。这是他隔离的第一天。老妈我警告他可不要养小猪额，可以锻炼一下啦。威尔带着我给他的旅行瑜伽垫很好用。我得瑟给儿子说我的手臂平衡每天都在变好一点点。而我儿他从不厌倦告诉我我是世界上最酷的老妈。我们为彼此感到骄傲。

（初稿于2021-08-25）