ordinary days are special too

ello! the last few weeks have been kinda crazy, i legitimately don't know how to answer when people ask me and/or my mom have been. i guess we're ok? good, given the circumstances lol. doing the best we can! we keep going and keep moving forward. i've been trying to spend as much time with my mom as possible and i think so many parts of her cancer journey have been about us planning for and going on these grand adventures or experiencing new things together. these last few weeks have been more.. ordinary, but they're still very special. i guess i just want to remember a very normal day with my mom. — in the mornings, i have a new routine where i go over and make her tea. the type of tea fluctuates based on her needs and what she's into the moment. the most recent concoction has been one with astralagus (huang qi), jujubes, longan, and ginger to help boost her spleen qi and lift her energy levels. when she's feeling up for it and the weather is good, i'll go on a walk with her around the neighborhood. she has a personal goal of walking 6000 steps a day and feels accomplished when she hits that number, it's like a boost of confidence that she still has the energy to move. on this particular walk, i was laughing about how i've been craving shin ramen, mostly because there was a shin black sample at costco the other week, but the line was too long and i didn't get it. maybe i'll go home and make some for lunch today. she told me she'd also been craving something spicy and suggested that she could drive over and we could eat pao mian 泡面 (instant noodles) for lunch together. while i'm not super strict with my mom's diet (i mostly try to make sure she eats healthy-ish, calorie-dense meals with lots of protein), i also feel like i can't just feed her shin ramen.. after we got home from our walk, i told her i was going to head to my apartment first and start cooking. i managed to scrounge together the ingredients for a spicy noodle soup — kinda like jjamppong minus the seafood. become a noodler she came over and while it wasn't quite shin ramen, she loved it. i love watching her eat, slurping up noodles and drinking spoonfuls of soup. she has such zeal for all the small things in life, and it's just fun being around her. recently, her light has felt a little dimmer so it's reassuring to see the good days when it continues to shimmer at full brightness. she's so funny when she does things like declare, 'i'm going to show you how to properly drink soup!' and proceeds to slurp soup straight out of the ladle. i love the moments when she laughs big belly laughs at her own jokes. after lunch, she needed to lie down and decided to call her friend. while they yapped, i laid down next to her, and edited videos on my phone, chiming into their yap session here and there. lying in bed with her always reminds me of being a kid, when i'd fight to sleep next to my mom every night. we would take afternoon naps together too, and i remember waking up next to her and just lying there while she told me stories about her childhood. shortly after hanging up with her friend, she fell asleep cuddling with lu. later, as i walked her to her car, i said 'thank you for hanging out with me today, mom'. she climbed into the driver's seat and looked at me and she said, 'that's my whole goal in life, to hang out with you for as long as possible' 🥺 noodling around is a reader-supported publication.all proceeds from this substack benefit thetriple negative breast cancer foundationto support research for this rare and aggressive breast cancer subtype. cooking:ginza nishikawakindly gifted me their (perfectly soft and fluffy!) shokupan, and i've been making soo many katsu sandos (chicken/pork katsu, tomatoes!!, cabbage, okonomiyaki sauce, and kewpie — delightful!). i've also been loving thistomato kimchi, it's a nice reprieve from the western/italian style tomato salads. reading:the love haters (4/5)— i appreciate that the characters had more emotional complexity and baggage than in the other romcoms i've been reading.practice makes perfect (3.5/5)— fun read, but there's something about the way that sarah adams writes romances that doesn't vibe with me. like the relationships move fast in a way that feels unrealistic? watching:love is blind uk! i just want to get on with all the episodes and watch the reunion lol become a noodler hosting:our italian wine bar night!! more on that next week :) planning:debating whether i should do a series for mid-autumn festival! some ideas were… mooncakes that aren't mooncakes (mooncake-shaped jellies, cookies, etc), a mid-autumn festival apartment cafe (think: chinese-inspired pastries), or… everything but the mooncake (other mid-autumn festival foods, although i think mooncakes are the most iconic). but maybe i'll just save my energy and get a headstart on a friendsgiving series cancering:i've been frustrated with so many little things lately with how the medical system is set up — some of these workflows make! no! sense!! for example, one doctor suggested that my mom could get a procedure done, it's 'not likely necessary but [i] could send the referral'. when i called about the referral, they let me know they could schedule her for the procedure and asked if i just wanted procedure A done or A and B. i asked when we would be able to speak with the doctor to discuss the pros/cons and their recommendation, and they said that patients meet with the doctor the morning of the procedure??? isn't 30 minutes to deliberate and make a decision kinda crazy or am i the crazy one. thanks for noodling around with me, see you next week. <3 christy