What kind of wedding photographer takes a vacation in the middle of their season? This kind, apparently. For what it’s worth, I’m blogging offline at 34,000 ft, resigned in my laughable inability to find a usable wifi signal while zooming across the globe at 570 mph. Despite all my prayers to the internet gods – there was absolutely no winning this one. I mean, seriously….#firstworldproblems
According to our pilots, we have approximately 13 hours and 45 minutes to figure out how to slip an Ambien to those two unruly kids in Row 74. My kids, currently in Row 73, aren’t exactly angels either.
74D: Are we there yet?
74C: Why are we going so fast? Are we going upside down? Waaaahhhh!
73B (LM 2.0): Mommy, where’s my iPad?
73A (LM 1.0): Ahhhh, we’re all going to die! (makes explosion noises)
It’s been almost a decade since we last set foot in Seoul and Hong Kong, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Kids and work had overtaken our lives these past few years, and had it not been for the passing of my grandmother at the ripe old age of 100, it would’ve been another 10 years before our next visit. My wife finally convinced me that we’d saved up enough vacation days to, at the very least, pay respects to the matriarch of the Lau family. There were two things I realized that day: (1) we were definitely packing up the kids and heading to Asia and (2) Asian mothers are really good at meting out guilt trips (and Karis would be no exception).
I never knew my grandmother well, aside from the handful of times she stayed at our home while we were growing up; she would stay in the guest room on most days, rambling to herself in her village dialect (which was 90% unintelligible to everyone in the house, with the exception of my father). I don’t have many memories of her, except for the one time she told me that baby bananas were grown from a King’s butt, and the other time she snuck a few buns into her purse from her 93rd birthday dinner. “Grandma, these buns are yours. You really don’t need to steal them!”
My grandmother passed away peacefully in 2015, and I remember getting the call from my father while I was on the road. It just happened to be one of those weeks; 6 weddings in four states, all while trying to keep it together for everyone else’s sanity. “Just make it there, whenever you can.” my father said. “We know you’re busy. Your business comes first.”
Fast forward to a year later, the entire Lau Clan is on a plane, en route to a semi-vacation that is neither entirely for business nor pleasure. Our access to internet will probably be spotty, and our response time may possibly be delayed; but rest assured, we are all still very much working, and will respond to everyone’s emails/inquiries as quickly as possible! We will be returning state-side by end of July.
Thanks everyone – and see you guys when we get back!
