Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Whew. Whoa. What happens in 24 years?

An infant becomes a true adult in 25 years – in terms of full mental maturation according to auto insurance agencies and Discovery Channel. Careers can end in 24 years. Marriages, certainly. We can go through 3 to 6 Presidential administrations. High school, college, and law school can all be completed in 24 years. I can fail to commit suicide for 24 years. Oy.

So what has happened in the 24 years since I last saw 姿慧? She's a cousin on my father's side, a side of the family that is virtually non-existent as my father makes no mention of them nor seems to have any contact, but probably silently does. As remote and unknown as my father is, memory of him destined for complete oblivion after he dies, his side of the family is that much more distant. But I've met them before when I was a kid, proof that my father wasn't spawned in a test tube. He has a family. He has a niece. Her name is 姿慧.

Unbeknownst to any of us, my aunt here in Kaohsiung, my uncle's second wife, has been friends with 姿慧 for a while, I'm not sure how long. Not even my closest cousins here remember her from when we had all played together as children when me and my brothers came here for one infamous Summer.

I know they don't remember her because just two months ago during the New Years holiday, I asked Gary if he remembered her. There was no reason why he should have, and no reason for me to ask, so I don't know why I did, except just to utter her name.

Then yesterday my aunt furtively came to me and said she wanted to take me to lunch without my uncle, and did I remember 李姿慧? She couldn't have said anything that could have gotten my attention faster. It's a little vague how they know each other, even less vague how who figured out we knew each other. . .

We met yesterday for the first time in 24 years, and that's all that happened. I don't know what the next step will be, or if there will be a next step. There has to be. I imagine her English is as non-existent as my Chinese, but now that I have her contact information, I have to make contact. Her importance to me is mythic. Or mythical. Or mystical. Or totally imagined, take your pick.

Her eyes are older, but they still shine and smile in their dark depths, and a few times we locked gazes past the point where that normally would have gotten uncomfortable. It was subtle, but intense. There is something we both still know after all these years.

She hasn't married. The only family she may have left here is her younger brother, who I wouldn't recognize like I did her, and whose name I didn't remember like I did hers. She hasn't had the privileges I've had, and she has no contact with my father.

I want to be friends, I don't care if we can't speak to each other. I want to be close to her. Her path may not be too very different from my own – one of the reasons she hasn't married, according to my aunt, an unreliable source in that regard. I have a feeling her life hasn't been any easier than mine.

If not, that's fine, too. I would be crushed, but it would be fine. What else would it be? Not fine?

Nikon N70, Ilford XP2 Super, ISO 800:

FRIDAY, APRIL 6 - Major construction. Maybe building a future KMRT station. Robot 85 building in the distance.

APRIL 7 - Gigantic railroad crossing.

Port of Kaohsiung. Shooting northwest towards the northern entry to the port.

Robot 85 building

11:44-11:50 a.m. - Brand spankin' new Dream Era Mall.

Lots of surrounding land looking to be developed.

3:24 p.m. - Very nice architecture. I approve.

4:07-4:13 p.m. - Solo day, walking back to my uncle's along the port (which is huge, my walk was a small percentage of the entire length).

4:34 p.m. - Extreme zoom to the northern entrance of the port. The Cijin ferry can be seen crossing the entrance, about to be rammed by a ship coming in. Or not. The original photo was really hazy, I boosted the contrast 75% to clear it up.

4:34 p.m. - Artsy ripples. Hazy sun in the west.

4:57 p.m. - Robot 85 building through a glass map of the Love River. I would be around one of those red dots at the mouth (hopefully not the one in the water) where the Wufu Rd. bridge crosses and leads to my uncle's building to the left. I spent the day just off the lower part of the map.