It was a Friday evening in October 1987. Daniel fellowship meeting at the old California Avenue building. A brother bought his cousin Bonnie to join us. A very young face. She did not look like someone going to college. After the fellowship we had to go to Gary Print Shop for some reason and she followed along. "Wow she has her own car!" that's the first impression I had during our first encounter.
As the days went by, she was more active in activities outside church as well and I got to know her a bit more. Her way of thinking was much more mature than her look, and her head always spinning with questions and ideas. She's not the type who simply goes with the flow. She was quite unique in the way she thinks and looks at everything under the sun. She was just different! That's got to be the main reason she was attracted to me. It was those days when Carrie started calling her "Hood hood" - since she was always wearing hooded sweaters.
We started dating around Thanksgiving in 1988. In 1989 we both served in Daniel fellowship committee. Working along side allowed us to know more about each other's values and aspirations. Then came the democracy movement in China which followed by Tiananmen massacre in June. I got very involved in protests and "Christians Love China" committee activities and she whole heartedly supported me. It became apparent we were not just dating but started to become good partners.
She graduated in May 1990 and her family decided to immigrate to Vancouver. I started applying for green card so I could continue working in SF. We survived three years of long distance love without mobile phone or emails. It was expensive for long distance calls so daily faxes worked better. Of course, we couldn't wait for meeting face to face every few months - in SF, YVR or Seattle, or making short trips to Yellowstone / Orlando. In 1991 when the Oakland Hills fire went out of control I decided to stay away from my apartment in Piedmont overnight. For the evacuation I had a backpack and brought along my fax machine (my friend kept laughing at me)!
At the end of 1993 I received a cartoon fax with title "It's now official - Hoodhood is Free!". She finally got her Canadian citizenship and ready to move back to HK. I had witnessed her directing a TV crew in a live shoot of Christmas cantata in Vancouver and I was very impressed. No kidding! I started to realize she was dead serious to start a career in TV production in HK. She got a Production Assistant job with Channel V in spring of 1994. Six months later, I packed my bags and moved back to HK as well. We finally reunited and started our new chapter together in Hong Kong.
