Family and Feeling Grateful

May16, 2026 – Time is Zooming By

I cannot believe that it’s already been a week since I was in Toronto visiting with relatives on my mom’s side of the family. It was my aunt’s 80th birthday and with sheer grit and will power, my aunt and planning committee of cousins (that included my twin bro) organized a weekend event in Toronto. One of the highlights of the reunion was my nephew’s camera. It was pretty cool what kind of photos it could take, so here are a couple of them with a few members of my family. This first photo of us in a circle was taken at the University of Toronto visit a memorial bench that honours the memory of my grandmother and grand father. The second photo below is all of us who went to the reunion visiting and paying respect to my grandparents at the cemetery. My grandparents from my dad’s side are also buried near by, so we went there as a little family to pay our respects as well. I was so heartened that many of my aunts and uncles from my mom’s side also came over to pay their respects. What I did not realize is that our families were connected because of my parent’s marriage and one of my aunts on my mom’s side went to school with my uncle on my dad’s side, and she also knew another one of my aunts as well. That was so cool to learn. What was even more exciting was reconnecting and connecting with cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. Many of them I did not see since my mother had passed away in 2018. Most I have not seen in decades. While others were brand new to me, and I was meeting them for the first time. There is something magical about families. Because you are family, you are just going to connect and get to know each other. It was a wonderful 3-days. Lots of memories.

The Chik-family reunion started with a get-to-know you session at my aunt’s condo in the multipurpose room. We wore name tags, there were games, food testing, gift exchange, slideshow, and food to eat. Although I was admittedly apprehensive of a 4.5-hour event, the time flew by. The event ended with my artist-aunt sharing a big image of a tree blossoming to my birthday-aunt, and there were smaller prints that were framed for each of us to take home. What a present!! In the image is a stamp with our Chinese name, and the image is titled, “To plant. To grow. To blossom.” So beautiful… I am looking at it on my window sill (a temporary location) as I write this blog post. Later that night, we went to the Pearl Restaurant, which is close to my birthday-aunt’s place. We had a 10-course Chinese meal. It was absolutely delicious. It’s be awhile since I had peking duck and a full formal Chinese dinner. We had 3 large round tables for our group, and a gorgeous view of Lake Ontario. The next day, we went to the cemetery in the morning, my little Ho-family went back to city centre to have Shake Shack for lunch, and then we all reunited at the CN Tower for dinner. Wow!! What an amazing experience. Very memorable. Beautiful views of the city. And, it was stormy that day… so depending on where the storm was or direction we were facing, sometimes we had sun, clouds, and everything in between. After dinner, we went to the observation deck as well. The CN Tower is a MUST DO in Toronto. Finally, on day 3, we concluded with dim sum and professional photos at the Pearl again. Another AMAZING meal!! Many flew out that day after dim sum. We also got a CN Tower glow-in-the-dark coin and personalized travel tags with our Chik-name on it.

The Chik-family reunion was amazing and I am so grateful that we had this moment to connect and reconnect. In lots of ways, we have not changed. One of my aunts said that I am still the same. Hmm… disturbing, yet reassuring. Thank you to the organizing team and my cousins, birthday-aunt, nephews, and everyone who came to Toronto to make this event possible. My heart is full, and I was so grateful to spend time with my little Ho-family as well. My kid and her boyfriend took me out for Mother’s Day dinner on our final night in Toronto. Miku would have been fabulous, but they were completely booked. Instead, we had Italian food, and the meatballs were delicious. I also want to say a big thank you for my roomie for the 4 days… my big sis… and to my twin bro for all of the points he collects from the Marriott and Air Canada that heavily subsidized the hotel and flights to Toronto. For some reason, all the parts fit, and I could briefly step away from my work and enjoy the company of my family. I had so much fun. Kudos to the Chik-family!!