Hi. I’m Mei. I know it’s been a minute & I know that’s how I’ve started most Instagram updates over the past year. I found a little piece of myself in NYC’s Chinatown last week... my name (美) & a bit of my heart & maybe even my voice. I never know how to jump back in to this online world, once I’ve inadvertently jumped out. My life looks different now than it used to & I’m still making peace with it. Living into unknown timelines, shelved hopes & dreams, & indefinitely closed borders has stretched me in ways I never wanted and yet.. has given me the gift of people & presence over the last 19 months in ways I never could have expected. Last week, some of my nearest & dearest came into town for a whirlwind weekend of events that deserve posts of their own... but as we walked down a sunny FiDi street discussing dinner options, one turned & said “Hey! What if Mei takes us to Chinatown... & we do the thing?” And they let me do the thing 😭. We walked streets with lanterns swinging & sat down for a Peking duck feast. They let me order my favorite dishes for the team, share stories about my pre-Covid life, & joke with the wait staff in Mandarin. I felt like myself again.. & like my people were seeing a glimpse of my former world - that Beijing home I love & miss - now on these NYC Chinatown streets. Presence is powerful & my people showed up. They ate my jiaozi & wielded chopsticks & practiced their very best “xie xies”... & my heart smiled & relaxed. With a heart in two worlds, it’s a gift to share both. The unknowns are still exactly that & timelines are still uncertain. But even... & yet... these days are a gift. This season in this hemisphere has been as sweet as it’s been hard & someday when I’m back home on the other side, I’ll remember these days. The friendships, the pivoting, the quarantines & chosen family-ing... & yes, even the frustration of it all... ... & I’ll smile & probably head out to find the best Asian equivalent for nachos, finally back on the other side — missing here 💗.