Family History

I think I grew up a little bit today..

We were at lunch and my dad starts talking about our family; his side.

I always knew that my grandfather was in jail for awhile. And I knew that my dad, his mother and three sisters were really poor cause of the government and all the revolts going around that time with the Chinese Civil War.

I learned today that my grandfather had opened up a factory manufacturing pens and ink while my grandmother stayed home and take care of the kids. But then came the Civil War and the government seized the factory and sending my grandfather to jail for a few years. During that time, there was only my grandmother to take care of my dad and his three sisters. My grandmother found a job as a teacher and they lived in poverty for awhile.

And then time passed and the war ended and my grandfather was released out of prison. I don't know what happened after that but somewhere along the line my dad became an executive for Johnson & Johnson company & then came me.

My grandmother's sisters family were pretty well off during that time though. One of her daughters (my ai-yei) married into the "Ni" family who were high officials with the government at the time and they had pretty much a lot of power in the society back then. But she made it on her on as well, travellling to Taiwan and then coming to the US back in 1970's and eventually working for the UN. She's eighty now and we see her during the holidays.

Then there's my mom's side which I'm really not all that clear on. My mom has 3 sisters and 2 brothers. One older brother and one older sister passed away. My grandmother (on mom's side) married twice and my mom and her younger brother are from the second husband (my grandfather who passed away shortly after I was born. I remember sitting on his lap while he gave me candy; that's the only memory I have of him.) I don't know anything about my mom side of the family.. I know that my mom was the CEO of a leather company or something and she was pretty well off. Both my parents were business.. people?

I remember back in our house in Shangahai, my grandfather (dad's side) would come every week and take me to the park and he used to say how I would grow up with a big butt. Lols =_= I kind miss him. He died back in 2002.

Today listening to my dad talk about our family and I've always been interested in history stuff and that got me so curious. I come from a good family.. or at least from a successful background and it made me realize I don't want to keep slacking off anymore. I know that I made a big mistake by dropping out of high school but I'm gonna be more levelheaded now and focus on my future.

I keep changing what I want to do. I even went as far as changing my course to fashion design and then the semester ended and I decided to switch to LGA to enroll in the Vet Tech program. And thinking about it now, I could have transferred to a Uni with a Veterinary program even though it's all out of state. So why did I chose LGA with Vet Tech?

Honestly I don't know what I want to do anymore. I don't want to stay in NY. I want to go back to Shanghai. It seems like almost everyone in my family is the business type of person. My mom, my dad, my aunt and uncle, my uncle in Australia (mom's side), and my cousin (mom's side), his parents too (my aunt&uncle). Do I want to follow that road too? I'm so confused. I don't know what I want to do anymore.