Tim and I went to the same elementary school in Taipei, then the same private junior high, public senior high, and then the same grand old university in Taiwan. Other than that, honestly, we didn’t go that close. He’s more like a jock while I leaned more toward the nerdy side, to borrow kid’s term today. Our paths may never cross after we graduated from school, just like many other people we met in life.
But fate has a mysterious way of bringing us together. Just after I came back from my wife’s high school reunion cruise in New York a couple years ago, he called me out of the blue. What happened was I took a picture with a group of guys who accompanied their wives to the reunion just like I did, and one of them happened to be acquainted with and lived in the same neighborhood in Northern California as Tim. He spotted me right off the picture and got a hold of my contact info through him, thus we reconnected with each other.
He’s been coming to Southern California on occasions since and I met him and his wife about every time they came. He’s a super energetic guy, and very athletic: He surfs and bikes, knows every nook and cranny of Southern California coast more than I do. And he has a tremendous memory: he can spew out names of our high school teachers and classmates, down to the berth tag numbers of our dorm room, without a second’s hesitation. Plus all the little details of the crazy things he did during those young and restless years of his, of course.
He came in town a couple weeks ago again, this time from Hawaii after returning from Taiwan visiting his sick-bed ridden father. And as usual, he found time in his tight, dynamic schedule here to come down to my home for biking and boogie board surfing, along the harbor and on the beach, in early morning and late afternoon, Saturday and Monday. He wanted me to come boogie boarding with him again Tuesday in Newport Beach, “where the surf is better,” he said. I would if not for an urgent Website cut-over my project happened to be in.
“I am retiring at the end of this month,” he told me when I half-jokingly checked about his retirement plan when we met this time. Though he mentioned a couple of times before that he would retire right after 55, I was a little surprised he’s actually going to do it now.
What would you do after you retired, I asked him. He said he’ll spend 8 months in Taiwan every year, to care for his father, who has been in vegetative state for over the past 20 years and for whom he flew back every year using up his vacation time just to be able to sit next to him in the hospital. He said he’ll rent an apartment near the hospital so he can walk to the ward every day. And “I may be able to spread Gospel in the hospital too,” he smiled. He’s a devout, compassionate Christian brother, by the way. More the “prodigal son” type than the up-tight one, you know.
I admire his energy, devotion, and genuine affections towards people. People like him make us connect and reconnect, explore and expand, and enjoy the fun in life. God bless him and his family, and may we all have more biking and surfing together for years to come—even though my feet hurt badly after that first ever boogie boarding of my life the other day.
The above picture was taken after the celebration dinner for Tim and his wife’s 25th anniversary at his cousin's home in Irvine. Tim is the 3rd from the left in the back, standing right behind his wife Lily.
Long live marriage, friendship, love, hope, and faith in all these and beyond.
No comments:
Post a Comment