My friend, C whom I work with was house/cat sitting in Sai Kung and invited me to a vegan BBQ on the rooftop of the village house. I’m not vegan, but I’m not opposed to it.

We were all meant to bring something, so I baked vegan scones.

I honestly didn’t think vegan scones would work very well because of the butter, but they were really good. I made blueberry and raspberry.

There was so much food there. It’s incredible that it was all vegan. Some of it you could tell with the plant based meats, but some of the meats were just as good as their meaty counterparts.

It was fun because while I had a few people there that I knew from work, I was meeting new people there as well. There were a few people who C met through a vegan group she found in Hong Kong. There were also others there who were just friends of C’s.

I am not good at meeting people on my own. I’ve never been good at it. I have always had this idea that I am better off not bothering anyone. These people I work with have slowly taught me that that just isn’t true.

I have also started to learn that I shouldn’t feel guilty for taking time to myself and spending it with my friends. I can be away from my kids and they will be fine. What I am doing is not wrong. My kids are almost grown (almost 20, almost 16, and almost 14). They don’t need my constant presence. Not only that, but their father is there when I am not. He needs time with them that is his own. I don’t think he ever really did that when we were together. He didn’t really spend time with them where I wasn’t there. I have definitely spent time with them where he wasn’t there.

So in my summer of saying yes, this was a success.