Ever since the Ms. Hom Chronicles came to an end I’ve thought about trying to visit Ms. Hom if I ever found myself in the Oakland area. In my mind’s eye the encounter would always unfold in one of two ways. In way number one my visit shocks her to death, literally, and I spend the rest of my life wracked with guilt. The second way, which is much more probably, is that she unflinchingly puts me right back to work. She acts as if I’m not only expected but late to do her latest bidding. No hello, no good to see you, just recognition of my presence and the commands and pointing start up again. And of course I do whatever she asks of me, sweating and confused.
Well, my job actually takes me to the San Francisco area occasionally where I take the BART from San Francisco to Berkeley, CA to work. One of the stops on the way is Oakland, and according to Google Maps that BART station is less than a mile to where Ms. Hom lives now.
It was time to reach out to Ms. Hom’s daughter and see if I could make this happen. I received a response yesterday:
“Hello Andy, Thank you for your note inquiring about Mom. She came out in Oct, 2001 and was with me until she passed away Sept 9th, 2003. The first year in SF, Mom still missed the place that was her home for nearly half a century. Then she was acclimating pretty well when she came down with pneumonia. I’m glad you remember her, and have “fond memories” of Alton Place. My sister, brother, and I grew up there. Let me know when you plan to be in the bay area.. If you let me know when you are going to be in town, and if there is any place of interest you think I can show you, we can make arrangements.”
I did indeed use the word “fond memories” in my note because I didn’t think it was appropriate to say, “I have many memories of being your Mom’s bitch for 7 years. Did I ever tell you about the time she sent me on an errand for gin, moisturizer, and batteries?!” Inappropriate.
The news of Ms. Hom’s passing is slightly disappointing from a purely selfish perspective, but it is not saddening to me. She was very old, lived a full life, and if you remember her “45 years China, 45 years San Francisco, 45 years Boston” line to me, that means she passed away at the ripe age of 137 years old. Not too shabby.
And to be honest, Ms. Hom’s memory lives on in part thanks to all of you. Whether I’m reading it in an email, text message, or instant message window — or whether I’m hearing it from you directly — a “You good boy, Andy” still brings a smile to my face and has special meaning to me.
I don’t know yet if I’ll meet up with Ms. Hom’s daughter or not, although I found her offer to show me around incredibly gracious since I didn’t hint at anything of that nature in my note. So we shall see. Who knows, maybe the Hom Chronicles Part II are still in our future.