No, really, I am. In the eyes of Asians living in this country, I have failed horribly by marrying a white guy instead of a nice Thai guy. At my wedding, a friend of my parents actually told my brother that he cannot do what I did. He needed to marry a nice Thai girl. My brother, however, is not a failure for two reasons: 1) he was born male and 2) he actually married a Thai girl.
My poor parents. I feel for them. I really do. I've saddled them with this strange guy who does really strange things that they simply cannot understand. I know some of the things he does completely baffles them. What kind of man wears shorts all the time? What kind of man has to shave as much as my husband does? What kind of man goes to bed at 4:00 am when he doesn't have to? (Okay, that last thing isn't as much a white thing as my husband's just weird.) What I don't dare tell them is that my husband isn't really a typical white guy either. He's just plain weird.
I use his whiteness as a convenient excuse for all sorts of things. He dropped a curse word in front of my little girls? Oh, that's just because he's white. He yelled at the waiter for poor service and demanded that the guy stop dribbling iced tea all over our coats? Oh, that's because he's white. He treats me with respect and love? Oh, that's just because he's white... No, wait. That might just be because I picked a good husband despite the color of his skin.
