Good Things Come in Pairs

Wow, it isn't easy to find a person at a banquet of 100 tables for ten. But, I found her to my surprise. We took a photo together to mark the joyful moment.

I met Stephanie Pan at Grand Toastmasters Club's first meeting in 2013. At the second party after the meeting, we knew that we worked for the same boss. When Stephanie talked this and that of her boss, I was in a cloud. When she mentioned the name of the company, oh, I know who she was talking about, my boss, too!

The company's year-end party was held Friday evening at a huge Banquet Hall in Tao-yuan. I didn't want to venture all the way from Taipei just for a free dinner, were it not to meet with Stephanie. When I arrived at the banquet hall of 1,000 people, I was stunned at the people mountain people sea. The company song was played loudly in the air. It sounded like a Japanese military song. Everybody was moving around greeting one another in the banquet hall. It would be no way for me to find her. Nevertheless, I tried just the same to walk through around ten tables, then I gave up. It's mission impossible to search for a needle in a haystack.

Then I went to the lady's room and I got lost when I returned to the banquet hall. To my surprise, I saw Stephanie waving her hands at me at the far end! What a second serendipity it was! I was as happy as I just won the lottery! The dinner started with the greeting of the President of the company, followed by the lucky draw. The store manager of the pharmacy where I work won NT$20,000 and I walked with lucky encounter with Stephanie Pan.

It was 30 minutes before midnight when I got home. I was excited and exhausted. But I still needed to go to the kitchen to prepare the La-ba congee for dessert at Golden Ladies Toastmaster Movie and Dinner Gathering tomorrow.

It was the first time in my life I peeled a full bowl of peanuts one after another. In order not to give up half way, I forced myself to recite "A-mi-tuo Fo" when I peeled one peanut and broke it into two halves, imagining I held a string of Buddhist rosary of 108 beads to recite the mantra. It is my hope that the La-ba congee 2013 is my token of gratitude to celebrate the auspicious enlightenment day of the Buddha.