Loofah

Before loofah was in, Dad had already stuck it in our kitchen, restroom, and patio.
We were horrified to see this beige vegetable "carcass" used to scrub our dishes, bodies, and barbecue grills.
Of course, this was back in the early 90s when green wasn't in yet.

Now, a decent natural loofah sponge costs you $5.
And Dad gets to tease us, "It took Americans 20 years to catch up to me!"
And the Vietnamese.

Ocean, my brother called me the other day.
We're planning my parents' wedding anniversary this summer.
I asked him if things would change any since another sibling just lost his job.

"No, Chị Vân! We give what we can. Mom and Dad went through a lot for us. It don't have to be a big shindig. You know when they did their 25th, we were too little to organize anything. Now is our time."

"And however Dad wants to do it, we do it! It's their day!" Ocean continued.
We both chuckled. Dad was certainly a character.

But no one could deny he was a selfless hard worker.
For this, we honor him.
For this, we honor Saint Joseph in the month of March.

ps. Photo credit www.wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com ps2. Dad's garden typically yielded 70 - 100 loofahs every summer. Plenty of sponges for the year!