December 2022 – Close to home.
Walking in Irmo Community (Moore) Park and visiting the tree where we married in March. A quick drive up to Charlotte NC to visit IKEA and the China Buffet (near Harris Blvd). Shopping near Forest Acres, SC at Trader Joes and Whole Foods – Lowes too. Attending the lights festival at Columbia SC Riverbanks Zoo. Going to church Christmas services.
November 2022 – Thanksgiving.
Photo taken together outside home and inside with the Thanksgiving turkey cooked by Howard (we all survived.) In fact, this bird turned out to be very juicy, tender and delicious.
October 2022 – Home, Gatlinburg and Memphis TN
Winters around Columbia/Irmo are kind of slow and during this time of the year we spend a lot of time just relaxing at home. There are still occasional outings to walk down at Columbia’s Riverfront Park – along the canal.
Howard’s brother Michael, his wife Juanita, our cousin Glenn and his wife Judy all live in the Memphis TN area. We traveled there – stopping in Gatlinburg and Nashville.
After a few days visiting family, we headed back home.
October 2022 – Mei in NYC
For the first time since we were married seven months ago, we spent more than a couple hours apart as Mei flew off to NYC with the family to tour before the family went back home to Singapore.
September 2022 – Disney World
Lots happening in September. We’d planned to welcome Mei’s three kids to America for their first visit with their mother since she immigrated. The three kids flew into Seattle where they spent a few days in Olympus National Park and then took another flight down to Orlando where Mei and I would meet them for 4 holidays before driving them back to Irmo. Then the three of them would fly to NYC to spend four days there. That was the original plan.
(Actually, I think the plan was not only to visit for touring, but also to see where their mother was staying and under what conditions. Prior to this, they had only met me once before during a ten-day visit to Singapore. I admire the kids for taking the time, energy, and expense to fly to America to be sure their mother was being protected and cared for — Howard)
However, the original plan was up ended when Eugene messaged us that he’d decided to fly separately (as a surprise for Jia Li ) and meet us in Florida where he would propose marriage. Eugene’s mother Chris wanted to be there for that event, so she traveled too. So, what started as a visit of three turned into five – with lots of luggage. Something our poor little VW car could not handle. So, we decided to drive to Florida and there rent another car that Eugene could drive back to Irmo with the additional people and luggage.
This was only the second time the Irmo home had family visit and it was crowded – but also it was such fun. We very much enjoyed having so many under the roof.
September 2022 – Janelle’s Birthday
The visit by the family coincided with Janelle’s birthday so after a quick trip to the supermarket, bakery, party store and KFC, we held a small birthday party in Harbison Community Trails.
Finally, after a wonderful vacation in Florida and in Irmo, the kids and Chris were to move onto NYC where Mei joined them so she could have just a few more days with her children before flying home to Irmo again.
August 2022 – North Myrtle Beach
This was our first trip together to a beach town. North Myrtle Beach turned out not to have much that was a great attraction for us, but there we did ride the big Ferris wheel, go to dinner at Crabby George’s Calabash Seafood Buffet – which was OK to Good, stay at the Comfort Inn N Myrtle Beach Barefoot Landing (a good, but not really memorable) hotel, and wander around town a bit. We walked the too short boardwalk, the commercial (tourist) area, and then came home. Oh, one of the things we did there was to ride the three level go cart track where we came to a split opinion… Howard, who loves fast cars and most driving adventures thought it was a “hoot” and I would be happy to do it again, while Mei did not enjoy it so much. Also, as usual, some home photos.
July 2022 – Not Well, But Got Better
In July, Mei suddenly got sick and could not stand because the room was spinning. We went to the hospital (her first – and hopefully only – ride in an ambulance). Turns out, they could not figure out what was wrong. For both of us, this was a very scary day. In addition, we spent quite a few days walking across the dam, and in the dam picnic area chasing Pokemon.
June 2022 – Charleston/Savannah
In July we had to go down to the Immigration office in Charleston SC (second time in the city), so we made a weekend of it – visiting the immigration office and then touring Savanah. During the morning and day in Savanah, we took the tour bus and saw most of the town squares. That evening we spent most of our time down at the river. This month, Howard also had blood drawn for my 6-month testing.
May 2022 – Cherokee NC & Greenville NC
We went looking for the Swamp Rabbit Trail – located in Greenville. We found what we thought was THE trail, but that turned out just to be a short trail segment that was only about 1/2 mile long (and located far from the actual SRT recognized by most of Greenville’s walkers. So, after a little map search, we found the actual trail. During May we also traveled to Cherokee so Mei could see that town.
April 2022 – Columbia Riverfront
The Columbia Canal and Riverfront Park is a nice place to walk. This was the second time we attempted a walk here. The first was in February or March and turned out to be far too cold for a Singaporean used to a constant 80-90 degree climate.
March 2022 – Start of Married Life
After Mei had a chance to started getting comfortable with South Carolina I started introducing her to my small circle of friends. One of the first she met was my good friend Shireen. I’d know Shireen for about 25 years after first meeting her late husband Michael at a job we both worked at Allied Signal in Columbia. Another big reason to introduce them to each other is that they are both Singaporean and thought this might help reduce some of the homesickness I knew Mei would face.
Early in our time together we decided that my old couch had to go. It had served me well for about 24 years, but had become uncomfortable. COSTCO supplied us with a new couch that may actually be too comfortable. When we settle down to watch TV at night one or both of us is usually asleep within minutes.
The house at night is a little impressive.
February 2022 – Our First National Park
This is the first time since our initial meeting in November of 2019 and my trip to Singapore in January 2021 that we went on a trip together. Whereas January of 2022 was local trips around the town, this is the first National Park as a “living together” couple.
January 2022 – Meet Mei’s flight in San Francisco
Mei’s arrival in San Francisco on the 16th of January was the start of our life together as a couple. Howard flew out to SF the day before she arrived to be sure she had someone there to meet her when she landed. SF Uber was quite expensive. I traveled about a mile and paid somewhere around $30 for the trip to the airport adjacent hotel. When Mei arrived, we moved to a better Hotel located in SF – close to the wharf. San Francisco was colder than we expected warm during the day, but very cold at night. Our hotel was about 4 or 5 blocks from the Fisherman’s Wharf so we spent all our time in SF touring that area and going over to Alcatraz Island to see the prison. Then onto a flight back to South Carolina together.
