The Road to "Ride to Conquer Cancer": Who needs a drill sergeant...

When I have a mother :) LOVE YOU MOMMY!

She asked me tonight why I'm not training today... and I said Fridays are my day off... her response was "Hmmmm... ok. But you're going tomorrow right?"

God love her!

But seriously... seems like I talk about my mother a lot here. And she deserves a lot of credit. As does my father. The two of them have always been extremely supportive of all the endeavors I decide to embark on... regardless of the level of insanity. For that... I am grateful!

My parents definitely deserve their own blog post... at least one!!!

So here is my dedication to my parents.

I don't think I was an easy child to raise (I can already see you readers nodding in agreement!!!). I was stubborn, rebellious, quick-tempered and basically at every opportunity went against my parents' will. God love them for not disowning me!

Here's a little story that basically wraps me up as a kid. I used to wake up really early (never been a big sleeper) so instead of waking up my parents, I would just leave the house and go play at my neighbor's house.... at 5am!!! Thankfully, my friend's grandmother was also an early bird and she would make me breakfast, feed me, brush my teeth and sometimes bathe me. I should mention I was 4 years old at the time :)

Here's another one. My mom once told me that even before I was born she knew I would be trouble. I asked her to explain. I was a breached baby, and no matter what the doctors did I wouldn't turn. I was comfortable sitting right side up... what can I say. :)

One more. People are often surprised that I speak Cantonese really well. My response to them is "It was the only way I could talk-back to my parents efficiently"... hahahaha! I wonder if my parents ever curse the 15 years I went to Chinese school and the endless hours of Hong Kong sitcoms and drama I watched (bootlegged of course!).

I'm also not the typical Chinese girl much to the dismay of my parents! They made an effort to make me as girly-girl as possible. I may be a lot of things... but delicate and docile are probably not two adjectives I would use to describe me.

I admit, I spent a good part of my youth trying to shock my parents. Actually to be honest, I probably still do. Always testing my boundaries. I would like to think that as much as my parents have taught me and instilled the values and moral code that I live by, I have done the same for them. Having a daughter like me can't be easy and definitely requires them to be more open-minded and accepting of everything outside of their norm. But to be honest... They have taught me much more than I could ever teach them. And at 32 years old, I am not ashamed to say that I was wrong a lot of times... and they were right! But they allowed me to make the mistakes that I needed to make, to take the falls that were necessary and then ensured that they were right there holding their hands out to pick me back up.

I love my parents. More than I can ever express. I'm not the most emotionally open person and probably don't show them gratitude like they deserve. But if I may say so myself, my parents raised a hell of a girl :) Hahahahaha! Modesty may be something they overlooked ;)

Dear Mommy and Daddy,
Thank you for everything you have ever done for me. Thank you for everything you will do in the future. I honestly couldn't ask for more supportive, loving, caring, patient parents. Your love for each other is truly an inspiration for me. Your love for me is felt everyday and every minute. I may not say it, but I wouldn't be who I am today without you. So thank you. Thank you for letting me be me. Thank you for letting me become exactly who I needed to become. I love you both so much and am so grateful for you.
Love always and forever,
MMJ

PS: Please don't be mad about the pictures you're about to see :)