(Scroll down for links to my previous blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.)
It’s been 7 months since I lost the love of my life, and it isn’t getting any easier – for me or my kids and grandkids. Some have said that grief is a weird thing, in that it affects us in strange ways. It’s also a stubborn thing, refusing to let go of us.
Ten years ago this week, September 2011, Joanna and I arrived in Hong Kong, visiting her sister Betty, brother-in-law Albert, and nephew Mason (niece Sharon was at work in the States by then, if I recall correctly). During that visit, Joanna and I also took four days to tour Beijing. Betty generously and graciously arranged for us to have our own personal driver and guide to show us – on our own schedule – the sights of Beijing. Believe it or not, it was Joanna’s first time ever to visit Mainland China. Keep in mind – when she was born and growing up in Hong Kong, it was still a British colony.
We also got to accompany Betty and Albert, and a group of their friends, to the island of Macao for a couple of days.
The entire trip was special, and the photos below bring back treasured memories of those days Joanna and I spent there.
Without further adieu, here are selected photos from that trip. As I’ve said many times since Joanna passed away in February, she and I simply loved each other’s company, we just enjoyed being together, no matter where, no matter the occasion, we just loved spending time together. You’ll see that in many of these photos . . . the love that we had for each other, and the joy we experienced in being together, comes through very clearly. We had such a wonderful life together, and I miss her with every breath I take. Joanna will always be the love of my life.
If you think these 70 or so photos are a lot, you should see the ones I left out! But these are, I think, the cream of the crop. Enjoy!
(FYI – Clicking on the photo will open the full-size photo in a new window.)
My previous 7 blog tributes to Joanna since her passing on February 14, 2021:
9/4/21 – Joanna and I were married 45 years ago today . . . Missing her and celebrating her
8/14/21 – Six months after Joanna’s passing . . . remembering her humor and all that she meant to me
7/14/21 – Five months after Joanna’s passing . . . remembering the lively soul who brought us joy
6/14/21 – Four months after Joanna’s passing . . . a few personal reflections
3/19/21 – Joanna spoke out against demeaning racial slurs and the fears they caused her as an Asian-American
2/22/21 – How Joanna and I got together . . . the beginning of our love story
2/19/21 – The painful journey that took the love of my life, Joanna . . . to the great heavenly banquet
9/9/2011 – Joanna with sister Betty & brother-in-law Albert Yeung, and their son Mason
9/9/2011 – Joanna & me with her sister Betty & nephew Mason
9/9/2011 – Joanna & her sister Betty
9/20/2011 – Joanna’s sister Betty at computer, with family photos in background
9/20/2011 – Yes, that’s yours truly sitting in Betty & Albert’s flat, doing guess what – publishing Weekly Baptist Roundup, in only its 4th month of publication; yes, I actually published that week’s issue of WBR from Hong Kong!!!
9/20/2011 – a view of Hong Kong from Betty & Albert’s flat
9/20/2011 – nighttime view of Hong Kong from Betty & Albert’s flat
9/10/2011 – 37 Yik Yam St., the address where Joanna grew up living with her parents, four siblings, and their grandma; the building is gone, the address remains
9/11/2011 – Joanna standing in front of St. Clare’s Girls’ School in Hong Kong, the school she attended as a young girl
9/11/2011 – Joanna standing in front of St. Clare’s Girls’ School in Hong Kong, the school she attended as a young girl
9/11/2011 – Joanna & me with Betty, at Victoria Peak in Hong Kong
9/11/2011 – Joanna & me at Victoria Peak in Hong Kong
9/12/2011 – Eating in Hong Kong
9/21/2011 – Eating in Hong Kong
9/20/2011 – Eating & visiting with Ruth Chen – a dear friend from our days as students at OBU – at Kowloon Cricket Club
9/13/2011 – Following a 3-hour flight from Hong Kong to Beijing, we were picked up by our personal driver and guide – both graciously & generously arranged for us by Joanna’s sister Betty; here we are in our personal tour van.
9/13/2011 – with our driver for the next few days (sorry, his name escapes me)
9/13/2011 – with our guide for the next few days (her name escapes me, too, but she was an outstanding tour guide – and she was ALL ours for the next few days, thanks to Betty)
9/13/2011- Beijing, touring the city
9/13/2011- Beijing, touring the city
9/13/2011- Beijing, touring the city
9/13/2011 – Beijing, at Heaven’s Gate
9/13/2011 – Beijing, at Heaven’s Gate
9/13/2011 – Lunch in a Beijing village (Joanna taught me to use chopsticks a few months after we started dating in 1973 – it quickly became second nature/she’s a good teacher)
9/13/2011 – touring a Beijing village
9/13/2011 – touring a Beijing village
9/13/2011 – touring a Beijing village
9/13/2011 – touring a Beijing village
9/13/2011 – in a Beijing teahouse; one of my very favorite pictures – the big smiles show how much fun we found in each other . . . we loved each other SO much!
9/13/2011 – touring the Forbidden City
9/13/2011 – touring the Forbidden City
9/13/2011 – touring the Forbidden City
9/13/2011 – touring the Forbidden City
9/13/2011 – touring the Forbidden City
9/13/2011 – touring the Forbidden City
9/14/2011 – touring the Ming Tombs
9/14/2011 – touring the Ming Tombs
9/14/2011 – touring the Ming Tombs
9/14/2011 – touring the Great Wall of China
9/14/2011 – touring the Great Wall of China (Joanna took this photo of me listening to a description by our guide)
9/14/2011 – touring the Great Wall of China
9/14/2011 – touring the Great Wall of China
9/14/2011 – touring the Great Wall of China
9/14/2011 – touring the Great Wall of China
9/14/2011 – the Iron Cannons on the Great Wall of China
9/14/2011 – the Iron Cannons on the Great Wall of China
9/15/2011 – at Beijing Olympic Village
9/15/2011 – touring The Summer Palace in Beijing
9/15/2011 – touring The Summer Palace in Beijing
9/15/2011 – touring The Summer Palace in Beijing: the Long Corridor
9/15/2011 – touring The Summer Palace in Beijing: the Long Corridor
9/15/2011 – touring The Summer Palace in Beijing
9/15/2011 – touring The Summer Palace in Beijing
9/15/2011 – touring The Summer Palace in Beijing
At the conclusion of our Beijing tour, we returned to the airport to fly back to Hong Kong. While waiting in the airport, I decided to go use a kiosk computer to check my email, but I didn’t notice an incline on the way to the kiosk. I fell face first, pulling my right hamstring. Getting onto the plane – AND sitting there for 3 hours – was painful. Upon our return to Hong Kong, our brother-in-law, Albert, gave me a cane he had used following a soccer injury a few years earlier. Don’t I look pitiful? It took a good 3 months to get over that hamstring injury.
09/17/2011 – On the ferry from Hong Kong to Macao, with Betty, Albert, and a group of their friends. Can you tell we’re in love?
09/17/2011 – On the ferry from Hong Kong to Macao
09/17/2011 – the ferry from Hong Kong to Macao
09/17/2011 – In Macao, with Betty, Albert, and their friends
09/17/2011 – Joanna & Betty in Macao
09/17/2011 – Macao Museum of Art
09/17/2011 – a nighttime view of Macao, which – according to Wikipedia – has a gambling industry seven times larger than that of Las Vegas (notice the MGM Grand?)
09/17/2011 – at a banquet in Macao
09/17/2011 – With Albert & Betty’s group in Macao; Joanna is 3rd from the left, near the front; I’m at the back, with the men
09/18/2011 – touring Macao
09/18/2011 – brunch in Macao
09/18/2011 – touring Macao
09/18/2011 – touring Macao
09/18/2011 – TIRED in Macao; but I must express my deepest appreciation to Betty, Albert, and their friends for their patience throughout our time in Macao – they had to constantly wait for “Hamstring” to catch up with them
9/18/2011 – on the ferry back to Hong Kong
09/22/2011 – departing Hong Kong; on the bridge, headed for the airport
09/22/2011 – the plane that will take us back home to Texas after a thoroughly wonderful and exhilarating (despite the mishap in the Beijing airport) visit
Thanks for the pictures. I recognized many of the scenes from Hong Kong, Beijing, & the Great Wall. I taught in China and spent time in those places. I never got to Macao, though. I’m sorry you didn’t get to Xian to see the terracotta warriors. I spent a Thanksgiving with them, but they didn’t have anything to say!
Thanks for sharing, Edlyne. I’m sure you had some amazing experiences teaching over there.