One summer my son stayed in China longer than I did. We talked often, and he usually ended our conversation with “I love you mom!” One day he ended it with “我爱你，妈!” I was so thrilled and screaming “wow …” He was puzzled, asked “Mom, what happened?” I said, “You just said I love you in Chinese!" “Yes, is I love you in Chinese different? “he asked. “Yes, I feel it is so special!” I replied. “Why?” he was really intrigued. I said “Because Chinese usually don't say I love you, and almost never say I love you to their parents.” “Really? You never say I love you to grandma?” Nobody had asked me this question before, I paused, then said “No, I don't think I ever did." “Wow, you should call grandma and tell her you love her.” he was so surprised. Next time when I called my mom, I took a deep breath, said “我爱你，妈!” I felt weird, and my voice is a little louder than usual, I guess I was nervous and maybe subconsciously trying to make up the loses that my whole life to that point that I had never said I love you to my mom. I don’t remember what she said but I remember there was a silence. I can imagine that was so foreign to her to hear those words first time from her daughter, and she didn’t know how to respond to it. But I knew she must feel good and sweet.
After that first time, I said “我爱你，妈” every time I called her. My son doesn't say “I love you mom.” anymore, and he always says “我爱你，妈.” This got me realize I got a culturally sensitive son who knew these three words weight lot more in his mom’s native language.