Ok, you guys have coaxed me out of lurkdom. Alot has happened to Wendy and I in the last year. I'll hit the highpoints.
Some of you know I worked for an oil company in downtown Houston. No, it wasn't Enron, but it was involved in alot of the same venues of the Energy business. Anyway, when Enron imploded it rippled through all of the other energy companies. Confidence in energy companies evaporated and our stock plummeted. This triggered massive layoffs, and I was targeted in June of this year. At least I got a decent severance package when they let me go (unlike the Enron folks).
I was out of work for over 3 months. I'm in the information technology field, but even so there were not many jobs in the Houston area (they'd been taken by Enron people who had already flooded the job market). Wendy said she would be willing to move with me, but the INS still hasn't given us the interview for her green card, and if we moved I was almost sure they would lose track of us. So I decided we should stay in Houston awhile longer. Anyway, I hung in there and finally got a job back at a University where I had worked previously. So it's all good now, I'm once again gainfully employed (My first act was to buy a new car - 2002 Mazda MX-5 :-).
All throughout this period of unemployment Wendy stuck by me. No complaints, no badgering, no change in her demeanor. She was as supportive and loving as ever. This was just one more test she passed to convince me that she's a most remarkable woman.
Last spring she started going to school at a local community college. She is taking courses in the nursing program. She's excited by all the nursing jobs available everywhere. I must say I am impressed by how hard she studies - much harder than I ever did.
Her mother passed away in the middle of October. We flew back to Hong Kong for the funeral. Out of respect for her mother I don't think it is appropriate to give alot of details about the ceremony, but I can tell some things. It was a formal buddhist ceremony that lasted two days. As a son (by marriage) I had a part in the ceremony and wore a traditional white costume (white is the color of mourning in China). It was a very moving ceremony even though I didn't understand most of what was said (it was in Cantonese). I found the asian customs at funerals have similarities and also differences to how we do it in the west. Wendy fell to pieces a few times, bless her heart. But after it was all over she seemed to find closure and is doing fine now.
That's it basically, she's in school and I'm working. With no kids in our life, we enjoy quiet evenings of study, television, and going out to eat. We love to plan vacations together; travelling is our passion. I find myself from time to time being struck by an overwhelming feeling of gratitude, incredulity, and luckiness towards this wonderful woman who is my faithful companion. We've been married over two years now and it just keeps getting better.
Regards, Tim
