Brian Khang | Photographer

It’s definitely time to get back to posting again! This one will be a long post, but since I haven’t updated in a while, I’m sure you know it’s expected and I’m sure you don’t mind seeing more photos! Katherine and Alvin are getting married next month in May and I know it’s going to be such a glorious day! Here’s their story in their own words.

“It started as another typical summer day in 2004. Not “typical” in the sense of seasonally induced walks along the beach or pool parties, but typical for Alvin’s summer routine at the time. He was volunteering for the week as a counselor at Camp Footprints, a fun-filled plunge into the world of love for children with disabilities. It was around sunset, when all the campers gathered around for the evening campfire – a time to laugh, sing songs, and just be goofy in general.

As providence would have it, right around this time, Katherine was arriving at the camp site to participate in “night duty”, a term which, by virtue of its name sounds like something derived from the army reserves, really just means people who come up to help put the campers to bed and keep a watchful eye on them for a few hours while the counselors get a much-needed break.

As she sat down toward the back of the crowd to observe the programming in progress, Alvin, who at the moment was leading the group in singing songs with his good friend Khoi, saw the future love of his life through a sea of arm-flinging, jumping, and melody-shouting children. His eyes were fixed on Katherine as she gently took in the frantic scene with an expression on her face that was a mixture of endearment and surprise. Once the campfire portion of the evening had concluded, Alvin went over to Khoi and said “Did you see that beautiful night duty girl sitting in the back?” To which Khoi responded, using words of wisdom which planted the seed that would ultimately change the course of Alvin’s life… “Yeah, you should meet her”.

And that fateful opportunity to meet did come a few nights later, at the end-of-the-week dance, a chance for all the campers to dress up in their best attire and celebrate with a night of fellowship, dancing, and yearbook signing before their return down the hill the next day. It was in the middle of this Camp Footprints dining hall-turned dance floor where Katherine and Alvin had their first meet and greet, which to any bystander at the moment looked like a brief exchange between a very shy girl and an equally nervous boy who was struggling to focus on the conversation over the sounds of both his heart pounding in his chest and the blasting of N-Sync songs in the background.

And thus we arrive at the end of the beginning of how Katherine and Alvin met in the summer of 2004. But the present story detailed here would not lead to an immediate securing of their status as a couple, an occurrence which would in fact not happen until over a year later. Other stories, some amusing in retrospect would emerge at an early point along the journey for these two, such as the bold yet fairly risky act of Alvin searching for Katherine’s email address on UCI’s website in order to contact her two weeks post-camp. Another story would be the discovery that their initial getting-to-know-each-other period would be cut short by the fact that in the coming fall of 2004, Katherine would be traveling to London for one semester to study abroad, during which time communication between both parties would be limited to postcards and emails. Yet another part of the journey would involve the fact that even after Katherine returned to the States to resume her life at UC Irvine, Alvin would be living an hour away in San Diego and would only get to see Katherine a few times during that first year after they met.

Some would consider these stories as obstacles along the road to a relationship that existed solely to create discourse over the possibility of Katherine and Alvin surviving as a couple. Some might even say, taking the metaphor to another level, that these were warning signs along the side of the road suggesting that they turn around and seek a different path. It is the opinion of this author, however, that these apparent obstacles were neither roadblocks nor detour signs, but instead served as speed bumps, an inconvenient but sensible means by which to slow down and to enjoy the scenery of learning about each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and innermost desires, and to proceed safely and comfortably into the eventual journey of how Katherine and Alvin became Katherine and Alvin.












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