Adrift at Sea —Dan’s blog on dankim.com

Today, the tenth of July, is a very special day for me. Today, I celebrate the seventh anniversary of the day I met Gee for the very first time. For those of you who don’t know about how we met—it was through a blind date, setup by a mutual friend of our parents.

Seven years ago today, I was told that I was going to be going to meet the “not-pretty” sister for lunch, on my blind date. Not exactly a good thing in blind date terminology, but I was committed to meeting Gee, for two reason: I had promised to meet her, and I truly wanted to meet the person whose beautiful voice I had heard the day before.

We were supposed to meet at this lovely Thai restaurant my friends Jim and Supi had introduced me to. I arrived at the restaurant at ten of one…ten minutes before we were supposed to meet. Sitting at the table, watching the world outside, I saw the rain slow, and then, after a few minutes, stop.

Just a few seconds after the rain stopped, a beautiful Asian woman was walked into view, wearing a navy blue dress. I thought to myself, “That can’t possibly be her, she’s way too beautiful.” When the woman in the blue dress walked into the restaurant and spoke to the hostess a minute later, the hostess turned and pointed to me. As she approached the table, I stood and asked myself, “If this is the not-pretty sister, what’s her sister look like?”

When I told her about my first thoughts on the day we met, about a month later, she gave me a very pointed look and said, ”Men!” and then started laughing. She was surprised by what I had told her—that I thought she was so beautiful, but not about my wondering about her sister. It turns out that I married the pretty sister after all.

I pulled Gee’s chair out for her and pushed it back in once she had sat down. Her love for spicy food was much a match for my own. Her voice was more beautiful in person as it sounded over the phone. Her laugh was a delight to hear.

We spent the next two hours eating lunch and talking about everything. I found that she was about to leave for Seattle, for a week-long trip to do some research and apartment hunting. She was planning on moving there for graduate school in two month’s time. We planned to spend some more time together once she had gotten back from Seattle. Waiting for her to call, after her Seattle trip, was nerve-wracking, as I was fairly sure she’d call, but not completely positive.

One thing that our first date confirmed for me, was that Gee indeed was the person I would marry. Her voice was the voice I had waited all my life to hear—a voice that sounded like home. I think one of the things I miss most of all, since she has been gone these last five years, is her laugh. She had the most musical, and at times mischievous, laugh.

Happy anniversary my beloved.