“My wife had never seen that sort of difference in forestationbefore. She loved the Saguaros around my home， but she thought thetrees and the mountains up north were even more beautiful. As wewere driving through the forest one day， she asked me who planted allof the trees. I told her that they were all natural and that nobody hadplanted them. She didn’t believe me though， she thought I was justkidding， so she asked me again. I told her that it was true that nobodyplanted all of those trees， that over the years they just came out of thetiny seedlings. She still thinks that I was joking and that the peoplewho settled the west in the 1800s were the ones who came out andplanted the trees. I understood perfectly what his wife was thinking. We have a treeplanting festival on March 12th each year. In our minds， trees must beplanted by people. There is a Chinese saying， “When earlier generationsplant trees， posterity will enjoy the cool shade. 24 While were chatting， I suddenly felt concern for the next generationof his family. I asked him what he planned in that regard. Michaelsmiled again. I sensed there was some good news coming. Sureenough， he told me that his wife was two months pregnant. From hiseyes， I can see he was also very much looking forward to his futurechild. He dared not guess whether it would be a boy or a girl. He saidhe’d rather it was a boy. If it was a girl， she would be awesomely attractive，a beauty for sure. Everyone says that mixed blood is the mostbeautiful， don’t they?
A Busy Career
The second time I met Michael was at a Canada-China BusinessCouncil Conference. Dressed in a business suit， Michael looked especiallyimpressive. Now he’s the Chairman of the Canada-China BusinessCouncil. “When did you switch jobs to do this?” I asked surprisingly.
“This is my volunteer part-time job， without any salary，” Michael smiled. “My official status is still the vice-president of Lingo MediaBeijing Office. This volunteer job can provide me with opportunitiesto meet many Canadian and Chinese businessmen. It is also a kind ofpromotion and marketing for the business and brand of the company. In fact， Michael’s company is a provider of English languagelearning materials. As early as 2001， they signed a contract with thePeople’s Education Press to compile a series of English learning textbooksfor primary and middle schools， including PEP Primary English，Starting Line， Beginning English for Young Learners; they alsoco-published Subject-based English and English in Business communicationwith the Foreign Languages Studies and Research Press.
In 2006， Michael’s company Lingo Media signed a co-publishingagreement with Jiangsu Publishing Group （Phoenix Publishing Group）
to publish a complete set of English textbooks for vocational schoolscalled Vocational English for Colleges， including listening， speaking，reading and writing courses， after-school reading and teacher’s materials.
Michael spent all his time on promoting this series of materials.
He helped the Yilin Publishing Press with marketing promotion andteacher training from vocational schools who use this series of materialsfor teaching. Therefore he often shuttles around big cities， makesfull use of his good Chinese to communicate with teachers， and listenscarefully to their opinions and suggestions. During all this his wifesupports him fully and is never a drag on him. Whenever he mentionsthis， a proud and happy smile emerges on his face， and he thanks Godthat he has married such a good and virtuous wife.
On May 24 ， 2007， Michael went to Xi’an as usual for a routinetraining lecture to local teachers at vocational schools. But this timehe was really reluctant to leave his home and his wife， as her expecteddate of delivery was right around the corner. He was afraid that if thechild was born， his wife wouldn’t be able deal with it alone. But whenthe expected time arrived， the baby gave no sign of coming out. Hiswife， Xiaohui， consoled Michael， “You go ahead. It’s OK. Thereshould be no problem. The baby won’t come out that soon. I canmanage myself.” So Michael left for Xi’an. The day he set out， he26 received a call from Xiaohui that evening saying that her water hadbroken， a sign of delivery. Michael， in Xi’an， got really worried. Whatshould he do? He was going to give a training lecture in the earlymorning， just a few hours away. How could he leave at this crucialmoment? He was faced with a difficult situation. On the one handwas the safety of his wife and the baby， on the other was the expectationsof the teachers. He didn’t know which side to choose. At last hedecided to remain for the work. He immediately called his secretaryin the Beijing office and asked her to go to his home and take his wifeto the hospital， and at the same time comforted his wife and gave herstrength.
On the morning of May 25， after Michael finished his presentationof the course materials and the training lecture， he apologized toall the teachers and explained his situation to them. Then， he returnedto Beijing as soon as possible and dashed to the hospital. That evening，their daughter was born. Watching their new-born daughter， Michaelsmiled wholeheartedly， for his family had got another beauty. He gavehis daughter the beautiful name Leah Michelle Williams， but he hasn’
t decided on a Chinese name yet. However， he has made a plan for hisdaughter in the future. He hopes she will be a diplomat and do a lotof practical work to promote friendly relations between Chinese andAmerican people. He said， “My daughter， my wife and I will moveback and forth between China and the United States for sure in the future.
Written and translated by Li Shujuan
