We're getting married.. again-ish!

The day I met Kayla was when I had recently moved to Shanghai. I was excited to be in one of Asia's biggest cities, but also somewhat lost for what to do. I'd seen a poster for a Tim Burton exhibition, so without much else to do I decided to check it out. What a decision that turned out to be. After ambling around the exhibition for a while, I spotted a girl in tall brown boots and a black floral dress. she was absolutely gorgeous. Long blonde hair, and a face that was incredibly striking. -Way out of my league. So naturally, I decided to continue on my way trying not to think about her and avoid eye contact less I die of nerves. The next I knew I heard a very peppy voice say "Hi!' Anybody who knows me will know this made me immediately nervous. Kayla introduced herself and we ended up walking around the exhibition together. Twice! I was amazed by the fact that she was equally into the weird and slightly disturbing style of Tim Burton. She would laugh at my accent, I would fawn over hers. I'd never known anybody with such a perfect smile. At points it felt like my brain was playing some cruel trick on me, and that I was probably dreaming, I kept convincing myself that this kind of thing doesn't happen to people in real life. We walked around for ages and studied every piece way more than I would have otherwise. I just wanted to spend as much time with this girl as possible. I was plucking up the courage to ask her out when we inevitably had to leave the exhibition, but again Kayla suggested a place to eat nearby that she knew. I'm still grateful to her for carrying that first meeting. So we went for some food and then said our goodbyes after exchanging WeChat details. I left Kayla that evening knowing that events like what had just happened don't happen very often in life. I knew I had to see her again, even it took all the convincing in the world.

On this fateful day where I was to meet my future husband, it was a day where I was discouraged and grumpy. On this July day you wanted to let the heat and humidity overcome you and take your soul away standing on the train into the city smushed against dozens of other overheated souls. I very nearly didn’t go to the exhibit at all. I was working all day and I wasn’t in the best of moods, but fate was calling and the show was closing, so bucked up and travelled into the city. I know Faron says he didn’t spot me until he was there inside for a while, but I definitely spotted him outside, from across the street, before he even bought a ticket. In my eyes I spotted a tall person wearing a long sleeve shirt and cargo shorts with mountain boots all at the same time, in July in the middle of Shanghai - who was this person? I walked the exhibit on my own, only just slightly staying behind this mystery giant, I decided to just up and say “Hi” to him - only I didn’t just say “hi”, what I said was ridiculous and I’ll leave it out for the sake of my sanity, but in my defense he looked lost and that was my opening. I asked if he’d like to walk with me and then had him go around and view it again because I didn’t want to say goodbye. I’m a private person and I tend to keep my emotions to myself, but this tall weirdo was making me laugh. Was his accent real? Will I ever pronounce his name correctly on my own without hearing it first? Do people still ask for phone numbers? You know what, I’ll ask this guy to dinner. Do I know what this person eats? Nope. I live a weird life, let’s go to dinner before he figures that out. And y’all. I ordered soup for dinner. I hate soup. I didn’t eat any of it, he didn’t notice right? Next thing I knew it was dark outside, places were closing, and I live all the way across the city. He left by train and I was bailed on by two Uber’s and it started pouring rain, but it didn’t matter. I met an English man looking at some art in China, who does that?

London