Two babies

In leaving Asia I stopped in Singapore for a few days to visit some friends. I met Debbie Lee about 18 years ago at nerd camp - we spent one high school summer taking classes at a college campus. Debbie is Singaporean, but was living in DC at the time because her dad, a government employee, was stationed in the States. Since then we have remained friends, even attending University together for a year at University of Michigan. After Debbie's year in Ann Arbor she moved to London to attend medical school. In her studies she met a British bloke, Jon Gifford, who has since become her husband. After living and working in the UK for a few years after finishing medical school, she and Jon moved to Singapore in the last year. The move to Singapore coincided with the birth of the couples' first son James Gifford. James has large, dark, intense saucer eyes and soft brown hair. He lives with his parents and grandparents, auntie Pat and uncle Lionel in a three-bedroom flat in S'pore. This is the same flat I visited when I first traveled to Singapore in Christmas 1996 (breaking my mother's heart to miss Christmas with her for the first time ever). James is an adorable child and is fortunate to live with two doting parents and two doting grandparents.

Another friend couple of mine has a life course that has intersected with the Giffords. I went to law school with Matt Easter. During law school, Matt was dating Alice, whom he met in college. Matt and Alice married the week after we graduated from law school. After practicing in New York for a short time, Matt entered the foreign service and was sent to China. Matt and Alice returned to DC to work at the State Department, but have now been sent to Singapore, Alice now working for the embassy as well. Matt and Alice are both very interested in China and these assignments have been great matches for them. Alice arrived in Singapore pregnant, and slightly before Matt.

I put the Easters in touch with Debbie, whose pregnancy was slightly prior to Alice's. They are both Christian couples in their late 20s/early 30s, professionals, and have young babies. Sara Easter was born in Singapore a few months after James Gifford. Sara is a sweet little girl. The three Easters came over to the Lee-Giffords and we all enjoyed tea together thanks to the generous hospitality of auntie Pat and the household. Auntie Pat and uncle Lionel get very excited with the babies in the house and are very welcoming. My short visit to Singapore was a great time to visit friends familiar and new.