Marie Claire Lim Moore - Dont Forget the Parsley: And More from My Positively Filipino Family

Dont Forget the Parsley

Copyright (c) 2016 by Marie Claire Lim Moore

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher or the author.

Promontory Press

www.promontorypress.com

ISBN: 978-1-987857-52-8

Typeset by Edge of Water Designs, edgeofwater.com
Cover design by Nonie Cartagena-Dono

Printed in Canada

987654321

CONTENTS

DONT FORGET THE PARSLEY

Marie Claire Lim Moore builds on her first memoir, Dont Forget the Soap, offering more entertaining stories about her family in this follow up. Like her first book, Dont Forget the Parsley is a collection of anecdotes from different points in Claires life: stories from her second-generation immigrant childhood in Vancouver and New York City mix with recent expat experiences in Singapore and Hong Kong where she balances multiple roles as wife and mother, corporate executive and author. Her positively Filipino parents continue to have a big influence on her whether it comes to managing family and career, meeting heads of state and world leaders or simply making new friends.

From stray observations (everything is funnier at church) and midnight anxieties (if Jessica Simpson gets to go to the White House Correspondents Dinner, why shouldnt I?) to life mantras (dont let perfection hold you back) and litmus tests (would you serve drinks at my mothers art show?), Claires warm and honest storytelling will resonate with readers and leave them smiling.

Marie Claire Lim Moore is a wonderful storyteller and she does it again in Dont Forget the Parsley. I fell in love with her parents and learned a great deal from their outlook on life! A delightful and entertaining read!

- Susie Orman Schnall, Huffington Post blogger and award winning author of On Grace and The Balance Project

Dont read this in bed if you dont want to wake the whole house with roaring laughter. Ms. Lim Moore strings together generations worth of vignettes from a pool of memories more than her heart can hold, each revealing surprising quirk and candor.

- Miro Capili, former reporter at CNN Philippines

Claire is a role model for how leading a life filled with positive attitude and habits can create unlimited happiness and success. Dont Forget the Parsley is a metaphor we should all live by, to continue to see and add color to all the events of our lives.

- Claudia Chan, CEO of SHE Global Media and Entrepreneur contributor

A delightful peek into the inspired life of Marie Claire Lim Moore. A gentle guide for those who want to balance it all.

- Kellie Martin, former ER and Life Goes On actress and author of Madam: A Novel of New Orleans

A great addition to any family library and gift wish list!

- Kristen Capili, Founder of Heart School

A mosaic of joyful family living in a global context yet firmly rooted in Philippine traditions and values.

- Maria Beebe, Editor of DISRUPT. Filipina Women: Loud. Proud. Leading Without A Doubt

INTRODUCTION

Why I Wrote This Book

O ne thing I learned shortly after writing my first book is that inevitably people will be asking about your next one. I didnt necessarily plan on doing a follow up but I was certainly encouraged by all the support.

Dont Forget the Soap is a collection of anecdotes from my familys global journey starting with my parents migration from the Philippines to my current experiences living abroad with my husband and our then two children. I would be lying if I said my heart didnt burst the first time I saw the book featured in People Asia on the same Papertrail page as Malala Yousafazis I Am Malala. Or that my relatives didnt take about a gazillion selfies with our family memoir sitting on the same New & Hot Non-Fiction shelf as Hillary Clintons Hard Choices. Or that we werent glued to our smartphones refreshing Amazon until we saw the book climb to #1 Hot New Release in it-didnt-matter-what category.

While the book tours, talk shows, and photo shoots have been fabulously unexpected, equally fun has been meeting people from all different walks of life who have come to admire my parents (almost) as much as I do.

I always figured that Filipinos and Filipino-Americans would relate to the SPAM and corned beef references, but Ive been delightfully surprised to learn how much the book has resonated with so many different people. Whether their courage to leave a comfortable life (from Manila to Mobile, Alabama, to Vancouver, Canada, to New York City), their parenting techniques (youre too smart to be bored), or their practical approach to life (wow appetizers!), people seemed to connect to my parents (and my family) more than I ever imagined. The following is a list of my beloved readership so far.

Filipinos and Filipinos abroad (okay, no surprise here);

Anyone with Filipino friends or in-laws: those who have somehow found themselves amidst the Filipino experience, wondering why they are being egged on (no pun intended) to eat a fertilized duck embryo, kissing more Titas than they know what to do with, and going to church more often than they thought physically possible;

Asian-Americans and other immigrants: it turns out all these ethnic groups have relatives who stay with them for months at a time;

Europeans, Latin Americans, Africans, and basically anyone who feels close to their family: it didnt seem like it while I was younger, but a lot of people enjoy spending time with their parents and siblings;

Women trying to balance it all: I didnt realize I was speaking to this audience as I was writing the book but they have turned out to be some of my greatest supporters.

Dont Forget the Soap has been coined everything from a happy family handbook to a great big hug in a book but I wasnt purposely going for that. There are a number of books like The Happiness Project or Stumbling on Happiness that methodically try to measure and dissect happiness. I just wanted to share stories about my family while recounting lessons from my mother. I guess I could have anticipated the result. For as long as I can remember, someone was always commenting on our happy disposition.

One day in college, I was logging into email on my friend Nics computer. Electronic mail was in its infancy stage and Yale was using an old system called Minerva, which had a series of codes you needed to enter into the DOS screen before your password. Back then, the DOS system cursor could not always keep up with how fast a person typed. My rhythm must have been off because somehow my password displayed up on the screen in what was supposed to be an innocuous field.

Aww is that really your password? Nic asked, chuckling. He was referring to the letters I had just typed on the screen: S-M-I-L-E.

Yes, but why are you laughing?

Its just that Ive always wondered if youre as happy as you seem, or if its just an act, and now I know the answer, he explained nonchalantly as he put in the new Notorious B.I.G. CD. I didnt know whether to be offended that he doubted my sincerity or whether to appreciate his.