Sage's toy cars 星词的小汽车队

I picked up Sage's picture of his fleet of toy cars (click picture above to enlarge) for my title page for its significance of a sharp contrast to my childhood dream. One tiny toy car was all I could dream of when I was Sage's age. I almost did not get it, and that car remained the only toy car I ever had. The next car would be a real car, a used 1978 Oldsmobile Firenza, which I bought when I decided to stay put and began my new life, at the age of 48. Now 27 years later and as a retiree, I've had plenty of opportunities to reflect on my life there in China and here in the US. With our extended family of ten, among them our four grandkids, we cannot be happier. I am truly glad that I stayed.

The first group of pictures are mostly about our grandkids, and our gatherings with family and friends. The next group of pictures were images received in smartphones over the year, from China and in the US. All the pictures are meaningful to me, for I miss and am grateful to everyone who has helped me and my family one way or another, in the US as well as in China.The middle picture in the last row is that of my dear Zhao Mama who (and her husband) befriended me and my mother when I was just nine years old. See my 2013 web page: Baba and Zhao Baba.

我用这张照片（星词的小汽车队，击打还可放大）当题头是因为它令我想到我的贫困的童年。当时我费了很大周折才得到一辆薄铁皮玩具车。而那成了我童年唯一的买来的玩具。我的下一部车就是一辆真车了。那是1989年我决定留在美国，以48岁的年龄从头打拼。二十七年过去，我们全家十口人，包括四个孙儿孙女，终于在美国安居乐业。还有什么比这个更幸福呢。

下面第一组照片是我们，我们的孙儿孙女，和我们的亲戚朋友。第二组照片是从手机收到的照片，包括国内发来的。所有的照片对我们都有特殊意义。我怀念所有曾经帮助过我和我的家人的好人。最后一栏的照片有我的亲爱的赵妈妈。1949年厦门解放，但家父牺牲了。她和他的先生（赵爸爸时为厦门警备师参谋长）尽心地照料了我们孤儿寡母，见我2013年的网页：爸爸与赵爸爸。