Backstory: I have lived in Brooklyn for 15 years and am about to get tenure at my job. This is my Japanese mom’s supportive message from Canada. No idea why she starts by referring to me in the third person.
If Sophia gets tenure, that means
we will spend our remaining years in two different countries far away from each other. That thought always makes us sad. Our sadness will make our life shorter, and is that what you want?
Poor Sophia! Congrats on your tenure (and ignore the guilt trip)!
March 23, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Uhhm… yeah, maybe…. and thanks for the support Mom….
March 23, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Great job on the tenure accomplishment. Poor Mama! She’ll be fine; let it ride.
March 23, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Is your mom Japanese AND Jewish? Awesome guilt trip!
March 23, 2010 at 3:14 pm
WHOA! Jewish mothers ain’t got NOTHING on her!
March 24, 2010 at 10:58 am
Ummm………Congratulations? Better than returning home and living in the basement, which might also shorten her life…
March 24, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Jesus, I hope you get tenure, for your sake alone.
March 24, 2010 at 3:38 pm
I can take a guess as to why she is using your name in third person. My husband is Japanese and when he is talking to me about a topic that makes him emotional he thinks in Japanese, so his English comes out quite stilted. Using a person’s name while speaking to them is very Japanese.
March 26, 2010 at 9:20 am
I’ve lived abroad for 8 years and my family does the same. My grand mother called me a bad daughter to my mother for moving away. Good to know that it’s not just my family… :P
March 27, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Yeah, I’m pondering taking a new job far away from my family (I’m already far but FURTHER away) and every time I talk with my mom on the phone about it, it’s guaranteed she will mope and complain “that’s so far away…” Yeah, she can say that alllll she wants. It’s not changing my mind! LOL – congrats on tenure, Sophia!
March 30, 2010 at 5:47 pm
This would be totally in place at mymomisafob :D
May 27, 2010 at 1:05 am
Oh, Asian parents. That’s her way of telling you she loves you and is proud. :-)
July 5, 2010 at 12:16 pm