Patti Wang Cross

We met in 2003 through our work with Habitat for Humanity, and while it wasn't love at first sight, it didn't take long for us to start dating. And like kids seem to be doing nowadays, we started a family before we got married, by adopting our now-nearly-3-year-old pup Charlie. Soon afterward, the M word slipped out of Michael's mouth and started getting kicked around, so we decided it was time to haul Michael down to southern California to meet Patti's family. Her parents, of course, but also her brother, cousins, grandparents, aunt, uncles, uncles' girlfriends, the works. We figured if Michael could handle a long weekend with Patti's very quirky, very Chinese family, knowing that everyone around him is talking about him in a foreign tongue, we might just be able to hack it as husband and wife. On October 23rd, 2005, we took Charlie on one of his favorite walks in the Oakland hills, at sunset. We stopped to rest at a grassy patch where Charlie likes to graze, when Michael pointed out that there seemed to be something on Charlie's collar. Patti reeled him in, checked his Oakland A's collar, and sure enough, there hung a lovely little bauble. A violet stone, a shiny gold band, clearly purchased from one of Oakland's classier vending machines. Of course, Patti, with all her intuitive and investigative skills, responded, "Huh? What's this? I don't get it." Meanwhile, Michael was behind her, pulling something a little fancier out of his coat pocket. On July 28th, 2006, we closed on our first home together, then on July 29th, we got officially hitched in front of about 200 of our family and friends. The wedding, just like the couple, had an Asian-Fusion theme, complete with a modified tea ceremony to honor our parents. Then we danced the night away under an open-air canopy, accompanied by a live bluegrass band. Now, approaching our first anniversary, Michael is in school for his paramedic certification and working in emergency services as well as construction, in the hopes of becoming a firefighter in the near future. He'll also be running the San Francisco marathon on our first anniversary! Patti is working toward her MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, and working part-time as an office assistant to help pay the bills. Charlie is working hard at walking from dog bed to dog bed, sunning himself, and catching (but missing) flies with his nose.