Asian Catholic Guilt

My mother has a very soft and sensitive soul, but like all little Asian ladies, she knows how to be a Hardass Asian Mama. She'll be the first to tell me when I'm being silly, inappropriate, or just plain stupid. She also knows how to use her own gentle ways to remind me and my brother of the fact that, compared to her own upbringing, we're a couple of entitled brats.

My Hardass Asian Mama also happens to be a devout Catholic. (Asian + Catholic + Mama= Mega-Guilt-Inducing Parenting Strategies.) I called her on the phone this afternoon and she reminded me that it was Good Friday, a fact that I had completely forgotten. Not that it would have mattered had I remembered. This time of year every year, I joke about giving up abstinence for Lent.

Me: What are you doing tonight?

Mama: I'm going to church. It's Good Friday. Are you?

Me: No. Do I ever for Good Friday?

Mama: No, you don't. Are you going to church on Sunday?

Me: Yeah, maybe I will. I did last year.

Mama: You should go to church. You should go to church regularly. God has been very good to you this year. You should be thankful.

Me: (thinking: "Goddammit.") Yeah, you're right.

END.

You would think that in my 29 years of being a generally obstinate daughter that I would learn to just say, "Yes, mom" and go off and do whatever the hell I want. But sometimes I can't help but heed the words of my Hardass Asian Mama. Before I was blessed with my job offers and whatnot, my mom pulled the same line: "You should go to church. If you want that job, you should go to church and pray to God." And in spite of my years of trying to weasel out of going to church with my mom, of making fun of religious people, of openly declaring that the Catholic church is royally fucked up, I actually did obey my mom and went to church the weekend before I flew out for my first job interview.

Yup. Now you know where I'll be Easter Sunday.