Hong Kong, China--December 5, 2007

Waiting for the 78K Sha Tau Kok bus at Sheung Shui Station tonight, I said to Peter, "Much of my life has been spent on waiting for buses.  In Minneapolis, I used to wait for up to a half hour for a bus.  I'm used to waiting...."

A life of waiting.  All the constant coming and going....  Between Minneapolis and Hong Kong, the US and China.

Some of us are destined to be diasporic.  Belonging to 2 worlds all at once.  That's the irony, and the beauty of being "different," being "woman of color," being one of the colonized, and post-colonial, and self-identified international/globalized/diasporic people.  Divided, split-personality, unified, integrated, i.e. self-integrated.

Who else but me, I, myself, can define, redefine, create, and re-create me?

Reading a blog by a sister of color way back in the US (my "other," adopted,"homeland" of 30-some years), I realize how far I have travelled, how long I have waited to get to this place, where I can comfortably, and easily come "home."  Yes, I am from this place called Hong Kong, China; I am of this place and this people, called the Liu Clan in the village of Sheung Shui.  But I am also from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I have made my home since 1983, and of other places before that, mostly in the American midwest.  All the faces and places have made their marks in my soul, all those experiences have turned me into who I am.  I am neither just one but many, never just from here, but from there also.

Who else but me, and me alone, can define me?

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Today, Peter and I finished a 2-day visit to Qifu, China, a place outside the city of Guangzhou, where Clifford Hospital is located.  Clifford (romanized into mandarin pinyin as "Qifu"--Praying or/Expecting Blessings) is a world-class,private hospital famous for its innovative approach to holistic and complementary treatments combining Chinese and western medicine.  Peter will be going back next week to start treatments for injuries to his spine: ruptured discs, protruding vetebrates, and months of pain.  This will be a long, long journey for both of us.

12 years ago, in 1985,Iwent through another course of treatment back in Hong Kong for similar injuries, but to lesser degrees of severity.  It was also the beginning of my own healing journey, as I headed home--came home--to my family which I had left behind in 1973.  

Ah yes, all these many years, all the coming and going, all the waiting, and struggling, all the living and dying, loving and crying.  It has all come back to here, the place of my origins.  And by next week, Peter--myMinnesotan-born and bred, "Gweilo"partner of 3 years--will start a brand new journey, in search of health and wellness in a brand new place called Qifu.  We will certainly be praying for, and expecting, or anticipating, great blessings.  It will be our new journey together.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers in our healing journey.