A Couple's Story

Every morning, that "healthy breakfast" on the table is all Mei-Feng's doing.
I handle the talking; she handles keeping our days running well.

Eighteen years, and that's roughly been the division of labor.
Yep! The classic #husband-outside-wife-inside 🤣

I take photos, write the copy, answer messages; she watches over every small detail of the lodge.

Then, on April 5, 2024, I went into surgery.
A liver tumor. A test we never saw coming.

Through the long recovery afterward, I could barely do anything — just slowly, in whatever small space I had, find my way back to physical and mental health…

But
Errantry Lodge couldn't afford to stop after the 0403 earthquake…

Mei-Feng took it all on by herself — breakfast, the courtyard, every single question from guests.
She didn't say much. She just kept doing it, quietly, steadily.

Two years have passed.
I've gone from ten thousand steps a day to being able to jog slowly, to hiking the local hills again.

Looking back now, I often wonder what these two years would have looked like without her.
I can't say for certain, but I know it wouldn't look like this.

Flipping through old photos.
From just the two of us, to a family portrait with our kids in front of the Errantry Lodge sign,
the years have left their mark on our faces.

As time went on…
that day, we stood side by side in front of the lodge, watching a guest drive off.
This photo, caught almost by accident,
shows a little more gray hair, a few more lines by the eyes, but the same smile as back then…

Thank you, Mei-Feng.
This house is half my dream, and half held up by your persistence 💖

P.S. As I'm writing this, Typhoon Bavi is passing through. Mei-Feng is out with a paintbrush touching up marks left from the AC unit we replaced in the Fantasy Room a few days ago.

Hualien is still the Hualien you remember, and we're still here waiting for you.