Dim Sum Mum - Tess' Little Pieces:

when we first moved into 122, a whole new concept of hong kong living opened up to me...community.

there was lisa, mel, paula, andrea, alice, caroline.

soon, there was lucy. then alice moved down the road, and lisa moved back to the uk. jules moved into 1b with her boys. tinja moved into 5a with her girls.

into lisa's flat moved weng. and then there was tara. gorgeous. nicole moved in. julie arrived. 122 was a great place to be.

lucy left, katie took her flat, susan moved in. ruth took 1b when jules left.

jennifer was always in "c" block, our goodnatured, "actually i do have" what ever item i was looking for.

two years ago, paula left. sebastian still remembers annie.

with the rents rising 60-70 per cent (while the rest of hong kong is dropping rental prices) people are moving out of our building briskly. nicole is gone. tinja left over the summer. ruth was meant to leave, but they have been hanging on for the past few months, hoping the prices would go down. they haven't. she has put in her notice, and they will be moving in mid-april. right around the time it seems team caldwell will.

it's odd.

we should have received a notice from the government by now, telling us what our rent was being increased to. it hasn't come.

this last week i have been reminded again how much i love this building. or, the people in it. the spirit of it all. how we can rely on each other. how we help each other.

charles and i are not the "primary mourners" in editha's death. we are among her friends. but being able to help, being able to rally around and take care of katie and tara's kids so abi can take some rest (abi is tara's helper and was with her when the accident happened) and so katie can take care of the details is so important. being able to take your cup of tea/glass of wine over to someone's house and the door will be opened and a couple of people are already gathered there.

we're likely going to have to leave all this.

yet, as we learned during those infertility years, hope has a whisper that won't let you rest, or accept defeat until you have truly lost.

"you haven't received your renewal notice" she whispers. "maybe the government is lowering prices and you can stay."

maybe! i think.

but probably not.

i don't know. it is all so sad.

and i will stop now. charles and i are headed out.

i did a great hike the other day. it was all stairs. ursula is useless going up stairs and i am useless going down stairs so we were a fine pair, but we did it in 2hrs 12min. hooray for us. took pix, to be posted soon.