Letter of Christmas 2003
also see Chinese version
(not word-for-word translaton)
 As
you can see from the photos all over the pages, the greatest news we
have for year 2003 is that Li-qing and I have become proud grandparents
of Kevin Zhuang. Kevin, born to Hong and Sandy ten days sooner than
anticipated, is now a healthy and (mostly) happy baby. If I take him
to the garden, he would help hold the garden hose, look in the direction
where water goes, stare at the rainbow that water and sunlight create,
and listen to the sounds when water falls on the leaves. If I have him
inside the house, he would want to go down to the floor and would crawl
to all places as fast as he can. As soon as he sees an electrical outlet,
he would trust his tiny finger into it. To a baby, the world must be
a wonderful place to be, full of sound, light, motion, and temptation.
Both Hong and Sandy, Wei and Maki have bought their
own homes but are within 15-20 minutes drive to us. We'sve got to see
them less often, but have more time, and room, to ourselves. I now have
my own office, and can be early or late working on my computer and webpages.
My webpages are reflections of our life, in particular those years in
China, where Li-qing and I still have too many relations and memories
not to remember daily. Li-qing is planning on a China visit, probably
next April during the Qingming festival when people would go to the
graves of their deceased and pay respect. The last time Li-qing went
back to China was 1999. Since then, five of our relatives have passed
away: her mother, her second sister-in-law, her second sister, her eldest
brother, and my aunt.
Next year will be the year of the Monkey, with Chinese
New Year falling on January 22nd 2004. I had thought about taking leave
and visit China during the Chinese New Year, but have decided to wait,
probably until my retirement. When I came here fifteen years ago, I
left behind a career of 25 years, and started everything anew. Never
have I regretted the move, but I have to work a little longer to make
up for retirement. So the coming Year 2004 will see our life energized
by the presence of our little grandson. The world must be a blissful
place to be, with all the new babies, new hopes and new meanings.
Yannan 12-3-2003

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Updated
November 10, 2015
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