one-quarter.

last night after dinner we were in the living room watching a program about china & how they created steel so many, many, many, many years ago.

me, being half-chinese, gloated. "see, where would we be without the chinese? aidan, you deny your chinese heritage all of the time. how come you always say you're not chinese?"

aidan didn't like this. "i am, too, chinese!"

oohh...i struck a nerve. "really? how chinese are you?"

he looked at me for a moment & replied, "one-quarter."

malia, the intellectual one, piped up. "one-quarter...how much is that in percent?"

twenty five, i told her.

"so, how chinese are you, mom?"

"aidan, i am one half chinese. fifty percent."

"oh, man...that's not fair!" was his response.

and then he got quiet. i could tell he was thinking...

"so, if i am one-quarter and you are one-half, does that make daddy three-quarters chinese?"

um, no son, not at all. daddy might like eating dim sum & he might know how to make rice in a rice cooker & use chopsticks better than mommy, but he is not one single bit chinese.

"he's scottish!" declared Malia.

indeed, he is. one-quarter.