Midwest Matchmaker

I moved to the Midwest for a couple of years to attend school.  My grandparents had family friends who happened to live in the same small town I was living in.  They were very well regarded in the Chinese community in the US having opened two successful Chinese restaurants in the Midwest region.

One year, Mama Lai decided to come visit me, but the trip was actually made not to see me, but to visit my grandfather's friend.  Unbeknownst to me, Mama Lai packed gifts and had prepared a small speech and surprised me (and them) with a plea to find me a match.  And Mr. Midwest Matchmaker barely paused before accepting the challenge. And in a blink of the eye, the measuring tape was pulled out, a weight scale was produced and I scrambled to take notes as I needed to provide him with information on schooling, astrology, blood type, hobbies and talents.  Mama Lai had already brought along a selection of pictures that she had carefully filtered through for him to pass along to any interested families.

Mama Lai reasoned:

"You are out here all by yourself.  [Matchmaker] knows very respectable families with eligible sons.  How else will you meet an educated Chinese American boy who is taller than you?  You need help."

I was eventually matched with a 6 foot tall Chinese American dentist in Southern California who liked to race remote control cars.  I'm not sure what happened to him, but I wish him all the best.