Underneath the Oak Tree

On a beautiful summer’s morning, in front of family and friends assembled from the distant corners of the globe, Pam and Isaiah exchanged sacred vows underneath the wide branches of a towering oak tree. The radiant audience sat on white, wooden chairs arranged in neat rows on the lawn, across the bay from the distant Coast Mountains and Vancouver’s tony North Shore. With a final word, hearts found their peculiar rhythm, rings slipped onto outstretched fingers, and a portrait of a family was completed.

An Ending

Pam’s wedding capped off a wonderful week of reunions in Vancouver, as the gang split up and flew back to our respective cities over the next day or two. Shing and Ivan stayed behind an extra few days for a holiday of their own, but even they eventually bid farewell and returned to their home across the world in Sydney. As for Pam and Isaiah, they packed up their things soon after the wedding and drove across the border to settle down in Seattle, starting a new life together in the Emerald City. Back in Hong Kong, as the dog days of summer extended mercilessly into September and October, Ashley and I languished in our sweltering apartment, fighting the oppressive humidity and dreaming of more travels before the year ran out.