My mom looked at me from across the table. She shrugged and
asked, “What do you want to know?” Since I was little, I
always thought her childhood was off the tables for

conversations or questions. Even my dad never heard the story of why my mom
immigrated here, and he married her. So as my family gathered together at the
dinner table, for the first time I heard why my mom had left her home.

I remember when my mom had told me stories about her childhood, it was
usually about food. She always had smiled, it looked almost painful, when she told me about her love for eating cake. I never guessed that when my mom left Hong Kong, it was for education.

We have all heard the stereotype of Asians being smarter than everyone else.
So, I didn’t believe my mom when she said she moved because her parents thought she was too dumb to get into college and my mom was the smartest woman I had ever met. She was always able to solve any problem, whether it was math or getting around foreign countries. My mom quickly shook her hands, she laughed and explained that she wasn’t necessarily dumb, but she wasn’t smart enough to compete against everyone in her graduating year with only two universities in Hong Kong. My mom shrugged, she explained that there were twice the people in Hong Kong then Los Angeles. It just made sense. I closed my eyes for just a second. When I thought of my mom immigrating here, I had always imagined her battling through fields of people, to get to the golden country. I guess immigrating sometimes, isn't as hardcore as I always perceived it.

I looked over at my mom, she was laughing at something my dad said.
Forgetting the interview, I just gave her. Her smile split through her face, she
looked as though she had just told the story of her beloved upside-down pineapple
cakes.