Why I didn’t marry a doctor

And lived happily ever after

I grew up in a traditional Chinese family where the expectation was that I would marry a doctor or lawyer or an engineer. Of course, he would be Chinese. My mother was an English major and loved literature. She graduated from St. John’s University in Shanghai, loved teaching and wanted me to be a teacher. Not a poor starving artist. Even my grandfather who loved art, particularly Chinese brush painting, advised me to marry a doctor so I could afford to paint. I became an illustrator after interning at a large advertising agency and worked in the studio for several years. I also married an artist. Not only was Andrew a painter but he was an American of Swedish French-Canadian descent and many years younger. (We discovered the age difference when we chatted about childhood TV shows: mine, Flipper & My Three Sons while his, Welcome Back Kotter & Happy Days.) Only after our daughter was born did my mother stop mentioning her friends’ sons as alternate suitors. (She sadly asked me once if I didn’t like Chinese men. I replied, No, that’s not why. I just like who A. is, smart funny talented. I’d never met anyone like him. He expressed himself well and was refreshingly honest. I didn’t have to wonder what he was thinking because he would tell me. In fact, you couldn’t stop him from telling you exactly what he was thinking.) On that day, she was the happiest woman welcoming a grandbaby and a son. My husband had fulfilled his duty and given me a child.

My mom often said family was most important because that’s how you build a stable society and a stable society is the foundation of a stable & strong nation. She also said it was important to lead a righteous life, not to injure others by false accusations and to pardon people when they wrong you. Ultimately, God is the Judge. She passed away in 2021 and I miss her.

This comic strip was developed over a number of years and submitted to various syndicates. I received encouragement and kind words from editors at King Features and United Media, Jay Kennedy and Amy Lago, respectively. I’m not a gag writer nor very fast and was never syndicated. But I enjoyed drawing these characters and continued writing strips. This is a celebration of people I love: family, friends and even some foes. For those who think family is important too, I hope you enjoy a peek at the lives of Bing & Gene Engstrom, a young couple raising a 5yr old daughter who decide to live with Bing’s family to save money and help with the care of her grandmother. This is a story of three generations living in two neighboring houses forming one extended family. This was the tagline in one of my pitches: It’s the family Thanksgiving dinner that never ends. Thank you for reading!

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