This week's #TWmemorymondays is featuring my mom! I was just chatting with her today on the phone and I asked her what was one of the most memorable moments on her wedding day (that wasn't an obvious one like getting married to my dad).

Background to that moment: my parents got married in 1985 in the Bay Area in a Chinese community Church. Many relatives from Hong Kong and China traveled to California for their wedding. For many of the extended family, it was their first Western church wedding that they have every been to.

So my mom was telling me about the moment after the pastor pronounced my parents as husband and wife. Before they walked down the aisle, my mom gave my grandmother (her mom) a bouquet of flowers as a sign of respect and gratitude. It's not traditionally done in any ceremony, but my mom thought it was important to add that element to the wedding ceremony. At that moment, all her cousins that were sitting in the pew behind my grandmother started to cry because that gesture surprised and overwhelmed them. My mom and grandmother were also so touched by that moment. It was such a powerful memory for all of them, because my mom remembers her cousins mentioning the impact it had on them years later.

My mom also remembered how precious that bouquet of flowers was to my grandmother. It was in my grandparents' apartment (that I grew up going to every week to visit my grandparents) for years. I could tell how much it meant for my mom to know that it was so cherished by my grandmother.
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#TWmemorymondays: A painting inspired by a memory every Monday of 2018. Connecting abstract art to real life. Week 6/53. 'Bouquet' / 8x8 in / mixed media on paper