Throw Away the Half That Eats
"I missed the fantasy of retaining the last blood connections to my cultural heritage and identity."
“But Ninang said, ‘No matter what happens, I will always love you,’” my child reminded me, after my sisters and mother refused to answer our calls.
“Well, she does love you, but um. Sometimes people are not nice.”
I was still trying to figure out why my two sisters and mother didn’t speak to me anymore. After I texted them in late 2021, that I was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer, none of them texted me or called me back. No card, no email, just silence. There was a financial reason: my mother had sold our family home in California for $1.2 million. Fiscally, it made sense. Of course my family disowned me. Splitting the house four ways, without me, equaled more money for my mom and sisters. Were they that hard up? All of them had corporate jobs, were married, and homeowners. I assumed capitalism, getting ahead, and screwing others just for cash was more important than their relationship with my little kid, and with me.
But then there was the other reason: If I cou…