Chapter 2 Andrea's sequence Connected to You

Dear MM: Our book is coming out—unbelievable, huh?The child who always crawls on your bed, the child who loves to listen to ghost stories but is afraid of ghosts, afraid of lightning and refuses to sleep, suddenly becomes an adult who can think rationally and communicate with you, even though what we write may Interesting, maybe not. Do you remember how it started? Three years ago, I was the 18-year-old youth who felt particularly good about himself. He thought he had great insights and thought that the world could be changed by my insights.Three years ago, you were the mother who grew anxious after being separated from her child for several years.The child grows up all the time, age, culture and the distance between the two places make you feel strongly that you "don't know" your son who has entered adulthood.The solution we have found together is through writing letters, and these letters, although they are meant to deal with your anxiety, once started, it is like "the beast out of the gate", and the disagreements and emotions between us can also be solved. All were released and floated to the surface.

The process of these three years of dialogue has been really hard: overseas phone calls again and again, email after email, many online conversations in the early hours of the night, countless discussions and debates──The whole result is now presented in front of the reader's eyes.You are always nagging me that my writing style is not good enough, always repeating "the deadline is up", and always asking me "can you add a little more detail" again and again.Actually, sometimes I think I can write better than you! Looking back three years now, I have a discovery. After three years of writing, your purpose is still exactly the same as it was when you started—to get to know your grown son, but I, over time, have changed.It was only gradually, gradually that I understood why you wrote these letters to me, and, after writing them for a while, I found that I actually enjoyed them quite a bit, although I was absolutely quiet.

At the beginning, I just felt that I had a lot of ideas. Since you gave me a "microphone", I just said my ideas out loud.It was only later that I suddenly realized that this matter had a greater significance: I had a connection with my mother, and I realized at the same time that this is something that most people will never get in their lifetime. But there is.I'm thinking: If we hadn't started doing this three years ago, we would probably have just continued to live like most people, and continued to repeat the daily greetings that are not painful or supportive: Have you eaten—well, homework Did you do it──hmm, didn’t you quarrel with your younger brother?──no, you don’t need money──hmm...Three years is really not short.Looking back, I really agree with what you said. Although these correspondences are for readers, they are actually our most personal, intimate, and true handprints, recording our three years of life— ─The years of our lives that we will never forget in this lifetime.

Here, so what I want to say most is, thank you, thank you for giving me this "share" -- not a book, but a "share" that has a connection with you. love you Andre September 26, 2007