spring rolls before the end of the world

harold camping of the christian family radio has warned that on this coming saturday may 21 there will be a cataclysmic earthquake, all the graves will fly open, the righteous shall ascend to heaven and the rest of us poor saps will wallow in horrificious-ness until God destroys the entire universe five months later, just before halloween.

the last time someone seriously proposed to me that the endtimes were nigh was in the lead up to january 1, 2000–the so called y2k disaster which was supposed to disable all of civilization.  most people won’t admit to it, but regular joes stockpiled food, water, and sedatives.  me?  i laid in a year’s supply of firewood, champagne and cocktail napkins.  i figured a black market would develop and if, as it so happened, nothing disastrous occurred, at least i’d have the makings for a good party.

but i don’t think anybody’s going to seriously want champagne while sitting out the end of the universe on october 21, so i have decided i need to make more immediate plans.  i need some comfort food.  so i went to dirk (f2fb #103) and f2fb #124 tom’s house to have spring rolls.

tom nguyen is from mekong delta, vietnam.  he has a very large family, which includes f2fb #113 lynn nguyen and #125 phong huynh.  tom’s family tried to leave vietnam after the vietnamese war but his mother suddenly balked as she stepped onto the boat that would take the family to freedom.  she felt she could not leave the rest of her extended family behind and so she turned back.  tom could not leave his mother, and he, along with some of his siblings, grew up in refugee camps.  he’s a tough guy, but he has a sensitive side which expresses itself in his work as a doctor.  he frequently returns to vietnam on medical missions.

when i first separated from my ex-husband, we decided that we didn’t want our sons to have to go back and forth between “dad’s house” and “mom’s house” so we instituted a custody schedule in which i stayed in the family home during the week but left on weekends and my ex maintained the opposite schedule.  at all times, joseph and eastman stayed in their house.  tom and dirk were nice enough to keep their guest room open for me.  i didn’t like packing up for the weekend but i knew that whatever pain i felt about leaving the house was pain that joseph and eastman didn’t have to endure.

and every time i showed up at the house, tom would make me spring rolls.  a little bit of basil, some chicken or shrimp, homemade fish sauce, some lettuce, all wrapped in a rice sheet.  my saturday night “it’s gonna be all right” meal.

and, just for last night, my end of the world comfort food.   it’s been almost a year since i have been at the house and i was surprised at the changes, including how tom’s tea pot collection has grown.

i also have to thank phong, who now lives in the guest room.  he was off to basketball practice but he helped with dinner.   i didn’t go in his room because he confided that it’s a bit messier than when i was there.

so when the end of the world comes on saturday, rev. camping, i will be just a little sad because a lot of my friends will rise up to heaven and a lot of my friends will stay here to endure the five months of the endtimes.  but at least i got spring rolls first!