40. Senior Apartment

While my parents ran the convenient store, they lived in an apartment, 30 minutes’ walk from the store. Father had to open the store at 6 in the morning. At 5:30, he would leave the home with a golf club, a weapon for his safety, in his hand and walk to the store. Around 10, mother would pack the lunch and drive to the store. In the afternoon when the business is slow, he would drive home and take a nap.

 

At the store, they cashed payroll checks. There were factories and shops around the store. Illegal alien workers did not have checking accounts and they would pay fees and cashed the pay checks. Most liquor stores and convenient stores provided check cashing services at the fee of 1-1.5% of the check amounts. Once they cashed the checks, they would also buy stuffs from the store.

 

Parents ran the store for 10 years and closed it. They wanted to renew the lease and sell the store. Jewish owner asked for additional key money and father decided to retire. They paid social security taxes but the amount was small. They collected SSI in addition to their social security. They moved to the government subsidized senior apartment.

 

The local government subsidized rent for the low-income seniors and the disabled. Tenants only had to pay 1/3 of their monthly income and the government paid the balance. Utilities were also included. In their first senior apartment, they had to pay approximately $100 per person and eat one meal, lunch or dinner, at the cafeteria in the ground level. Parents did not like the food they provided and they thought $200 a month was too much. Father’s friend told him about the senior apartment in Ventura county. They moved to two-bedroom apartment for the same rent.

 

Parents started to attend Protestant church, then later converted to Catholic. Father got the baptismal name of “Paul,” and mother got “Clara.” They lived in the beach town, Ventura, for almost 20 years.

 

They spent 24/7 for more than half of their lives. They quarreled often. Mother used to call one of her children after she fought with father. Father raised his voice and criticized mother when we got together. They acted like children who ran to their parents after they fought with the siblings.

 

Mother did not like the fact father used to criticize her and spit out whatever was in his mind in front of other people. Father did not like mother obsessed over things. Mother wanted to hang on to all kind of stuff. She collected coins and stamp, clipped new paper articles, and kept wrapping papers and ribbons. Sometimes she brought things other tenants threw away.

 

Their apartment had a small back yard. Parents planted the vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes, sesame seeds, lettuce, and etc. Mother used to count every one of the crops and bragged about them when we visited her.

 

Father asked my brother to buy him religious books. Even though he attended the church every week, he had some negative opinion about the church teachings. One of them was the gospel of Virgin Mary. Catholic believes Mary was virgin when she was pregnant with Jesus, and remained virgin for the rest of her life.

 

I visited him a couple of times a month. Every meeting would start with him telling me about his childhood and ended with the church teachings. I did not belong to any religion then. I advised him to accept the church teachings as they were since he belonged to it.

 

Approximately 10 years after my father joined Catholic church, I became Catholic. Now I understand what father was saying. Sometimes, I wonder and question the church teachings.