Memories from China

Every so often my dad catches me off-guard with his emails. This drawing was sent with the explanation "This week's art reflects my memories from a visit to China, so called “Rock forest”."

My parents are leaving for China tomorrow. My dad has never been there. My dad has been displaying signs of Alzheimer's for several years now. These are very preliminary signs, but since his mother had it, we're all familiar with them.

Needless to say, when I read his explanation to this drawing I shook my head in sadness and thought, "he's really lost it."

But being the very critical daughter I am, I emailed him back with "dad, when did you visit China??? This looks like Mars!"

His prompt response said, "It is China, not Mars, and I will prove it to you, when I am back with 1343 shots (2G) I intend to take around."

At this point I felt a little relieved that he hasn't completely lost it, but I still had one question that bothered me, so I emailed him, "Ok, but you said in your email it was MEMORIES of your trip to China, so that's why I asked when were you there."

His answer had me laughing: "My teacher requested me to take an advantage of our long summer holiday and paint my memories from abroad. Which I did... However, our return from China is scheduled one week after the beginning of a new academic year, one day before a second lesson, which I have to attend. There will be no time for any painting involving China. So, I intend to prepare in advance my future memories from various spots in China."


Did I ever mention how my father used to teach me methods to cheat on exams in school? My father is the master of cheating. He devised the most cunning ways of cheating on exams and it would always amaze me the length he'd go to cheat even in adulthood. As a smoker he was allowed to bring a matchbox and a box of cigarettes into exams at the university. He took a small matchbox, emptied out the matches, put two matches perpendicular inside the box at both ends, placed a tiny scroll of paper around each match, then cut out a tiny window on the face of the matchbox. When he rolled the one match the scroll of paper would roll over from the one match to the other, and the tiny handwriting would show up on the cut out window to give him the next hint for the exam.

In fact, my parents met because of his cheating habits. They went to the same school together in Poland and my mom knew he cheated on all the exams. So one day she's had enough of him in high school and went to the school's principal to complain about my dad cheating on the exams. The rest is history. They lived happily ever after. Well, okay, except for the cheating. My mother never tolerated that part in his life. I took after my mother.