‘There’s Vietnamese football tonight, will you be home in time?’

My family has 3 brothers. My oldest brother was born in the late 1970s, my second sister is 5 years younger than him. I’m the youngest child, one arm away from my eldest brother. That’s why my mother often teased me by picking me up from the landfill to make the house happy.

My parents both do small businesses at the market. On weekdays, my parents sell it not far from the village. Every weekend, two people drive each other to the district market to sell goods. I was never allowed to go to the district market, only my eldest brother was sometimes allowed by his parents to go with him to help with the chores.

More than 25 years ago, my parents tried their best to buy a color TV. Needless to say, how happy and proud we brothers and sisters were to join the ranks of “families with color TVs”.

In those days, a color TV with a curved screen was of great value, so any family who could buy this item was very proud. The moment I pressed the control button to turn on the TV for the first time was like a new, colorful world opening up for a little girl like me.

In the days when smartphones or the Internet had not appeared and dominated life like today, the most precious thing for our children was probably the TV. It is small but contains a whole sky of new things.

Later, when I was away from home, what I often remembered was the moment the whole family gathered together to watch our favorite TV show.

My whole family loves football. I always remember the atmosphere of the whole family watching a football match together. Dad, eldest brother and second sister often have exciting predictions and comments.

My mother is not familiar with football but is also very excited, often listening and participating in interesting conversations. With her inherent sense of humor, her mother’s comments always make everyone “laugh out loud”.

I still remember one time my dad and brother were so busy watching football that a thief came in and took all of my mom’s chickens without anyone noticing. Mom was very angry and forbade my dad and brother to watch TV for a few days, but then they stopped watching TV.

“There’s football tonight, Mom boiled peanuts and boiled dozens of duck eggs. Eat to cheer up,” Mom said, laughing.

Later, the eldest brother went to college in the city, and his father no longer “got together” to argue at every match.

I remember every time there was a big tournament, my dad would call him to come watch it with him. Those tournaments are usually held in the summer, when we have a break. “After the exam, I’ll come home right away, Dad” or “I’ll come home this weekend, Dad”… the eldest brother often answers his father like that.

Until he went abroad to do business, his father could no longer call to talk and ask him to come home and watch with him.

When I went to school far away from home, I was the one my father called to watch football with for fun. Knowing that I like to eat more than watch football, every time he calls, he often adds “Mom has prepared boiled chicken” or “peanut season is here”, “the pot of tea has more jelly”…

I remember one time my father quickly texted: “There’s Vietnamese football tonight, will you be home in time?”.

Of course, I came home not really for the football match, nor for the food my mother cooked, but to feel the happy, warm and loving family atmosphere.

The TV has bonded my family emotionally like that. Now we are married, our father is no more, but every time we have the opportunity to have a long holiday, the three siblings always meet to return to our mother’s side, next to the pot of boiled peanuts with the rich, fragrant flavor of those old days. .

Reader Minh Anh

During the holidays, my son invited me to go back to my hometown, my mother choked up ‘It’s all sold out, where can I go home’

Every holiday and New Year, my mother is excited to go home to see relatives and relatives. Thinking about how other people have hometowns and homes to return to but I don’t, my mother hides her tears from me.

Her 3 daughters got married far away, and her mother raised chickens just hoping her grandchildren would come home for the holidays

Just early, my mother called to ask if I would go to my grandmother’s hometown this holiday. Before I could answer, I saw my mother sobbing, her voice choked, and the child’s tears continued to fall.

Receiving the call from my hometown, I absent-mindedly missed my grandmother and regretted the days when I was busy making money

Every time I return home on April 30, my grandmother often cooks sour snakehead fish soup with Southern flavors for her grandchildren. Now the image of my grandmother retreating to the kitchen is a thing of the past.