A Photo

I took this photo on Jan 24, 2020, eve of the Lunar New Year. My wife and I were visiting my parents for the holiday. While we were there, the news about a pneumonia-like disease in Wuhan started bubbling. Base on the limited information we knew at the time, we didn’t really think much about it. The festivities went on. In the next couple of days, as the firecrackers blasted, the pneumonia news did not subside. It hung in the background of all the celebrations like a phantom. Until it was announced that Wuhan, home to 13 million people, would be locked down.

All hell broke loose.

We decided to cut our vacation short and go back to Hong Kong. We rebooked our return tickets; hitched a ride with a friend to Dalian, where our flight was, and flew back to Hong Kong on the 27th, 3rd day of the lunar new year.

And five years later, the world is a changed place. We live in a new reality created by COVID19. I lost my job, gained a baby, and the three of us moved to a new country.

This photo is not my best work, but it was a piece of the old world that we can’t go back to.

Today is Lunar New Year’s Eve again. As I am typing this, we are already in the New Year, year of the snake. Happy New Year to all who celebrate! To all the rest, good night!