Unkie Joe's welcome
Joe Nguyen, staff writer
Dec. 29, 2006

Photo by Tod Nguyen Remy Hien-Tam Nguyen is held by her mother Vie an hour after being born.

Something good came out of this year’s blizzard.

On Dec. 20, my brother Tod and his wife Vie were blessed with their fourth child, a baby girl named Remy Hien-Tam Nguyen. She’s an adorable lil’ monkey from what I’ve seen in pictures. I plan to see her when my car’s fixed, but in the meantime here’s a little letter to her:

Dearest Remy,

Welcome to the journey of life. I’m your unkie Joe. Your dad will probably make you call me “Chu Bom,” but that makes me feel old, so stick with unkie Joe.

There are many things you will come to experience and learn, but let me give you a heads up on some of them.

• Since you were born so close to Christmas, you may get cheated for presents.
• Your siblings will torture you. It’s a simple fact of nature. As the youngest, you’ll be vulnerable because you’re small and an easy target. Believe me, I know.
• You have a huge family. Not just on one side, but both. Don’t worry; I don’t think anybody knows everyone’s names.
• Remember where you put your shoes when you go to a family gathering. It’s a pain to find them at the end of the night.

Over the course of your life, you will experience some things just because you’re Asian.

• Somewhere sometime, someone will mock you with a torrent of gibberish. I know – it was confusing the first time it happened to me too. If someone says “Ching chong” or some other mock-Asian nonsense, just tell them: “You know you just called yourself a stupid jerk, right?”
• There’s a cornucopia of stereotypes that have already been assigned to you, and there’ll probably be new ones in the future. You may coincidentally fall into some of these as you grow older such as being good at math or knowing martial arts. Just remember to be who you want to be. Society has preconceived notions of who you should be and what you should become, but don’t listen to it. Follow your dreams because they can take you anywhere you want to go.

And most importantly, I want you to know this:

• Remember your heritage. Don’t take what you have for granted. Your grandfather and his family came over from Vietnam in 1975 after the Fall of Saigon. It wasn’t by choice, it was because of necessity. With not much more than the clothes on their back and what they could carry, they worked hard to get to where they are and give you what you have today.

I know this is a lot of information to process, but I hope it helps you as you grow older.

Love,
Unkie Joe

P.S. Don’t take it personally, but I won’t like any of your boyfriends. I’m your uncle and no boy’s good enough for my niece.

Joe Nguyen is a staff writer for AsiaXpress.com. Joe can be reached at joe@asiaxpress.com.