Another Year, Another Day

One day Ananda, who had been thinking deeply about things for a while, turned to the Buddha and exclaimed:
"Lord, I've been thinking- spiritual friendship is at least half of the spiritual life!" 

The Buddha replied: "Say not so, Ananda, say not so. Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!"
Samyutta Nikaya, Verse 2


Another day at work came to an end. Wai Yee and I made our way to the Wellcome supermarket by her apartment. We picked up some salmon, shrimp and greens before heading back to her place. Wai Yee was going to cook dinner for me tonight. Well not just for me. She has to eat too. So to be correct, she cooked dinner for both of us. 

I sat myself on her sofa while she turned up her cantopop music to a blaring level. She disappeared into her telephone booth-sized kitchen. I searched for Hong Kong gossip magazines to flip through. No luck. The only thing in sight was the "Joy of Wisdom" book I gave her for her birthday last year. 

The stress of the work day began to flow through my body and as natural as the setting sun, my head laid itself down and I curled into a fetus position on the couch. As my mind slowly drifted away, I saw Wai Yee standing over the stove like a dream. It took me back to the childhood times of laying on the couch in front of the television waiting for food to be served. 

I thought of Wai Yee cooking away and I thought to myself "我很幸福”. I am very blessed.  I never once felted that sort of deep gratitude or appreciation throughout the many, many years of meals cooked up by my parents. But that day, a home cooked meal by a friend I'd only gotten to know this past year helped me realize how truly blessed I have been my whole life. 

It's easy to take things for granted. It's easy to forget that nothing is a given. My parents didn't have to work as hard as they did. But they didn't want my brothers and I to live in a small apartment. They wanted to be able to buy a proper house. My Mom didn't have to cook dinner for us so we'd have food ready for us to heat up at night while her and Dad were still at work. People don't have to do anything for us. They do it because of a thing called love. 

There is a scene in the Wong Kar Wai movie "Happy Together" where Tony Leung is fighting a miserable cold and he'd been arguing with his lover, played by Leslie Cheung. Leslie asks Tony to cook dinner and although he obviously doesn't want to, he still forces himself to make the meal. Love is love, in whatever form it takes. 

The dinner took place a week ago. Today is Wai Yee's birthday. My immune system is down, I'm fighting a cold and my shoulders are tight. But none of that really matters. From being no more than barely strangers in 2011 to now being one of my dearest friends, we've grown a bit together. And in a week's time, we will be the same age again. 

You'll always be one step ahead of me. But that's okay because you are one of the few people I trust to continually walk positively ahead. And if that's the case, I'll always be close behind. And if you falter a bit, I'll be the first to remind you what greatness you have inside you. 

Happy birthday Wai Yee. Thank you for all the long talks and all the laughter. Thank you for always giving me your honest opinion and always pushing me to be honest with myself. 

認識了妳我很幸福。認識了妳我更加認識自己。