Dr. Nan Zhu

My first homework from the English writing class in my freshman year of college was to write a short essay about the favorite book, and I chose The Thorn Birds. I just read the book that summer and was still somehow lost in it. I wrote about how the book taught me to embrace the full flavor of life and inspired me to go and explore the big world out there. The next class, the professor randomly distributed our essays back and told us to grade one other’s work. My heart skipped a beat when I saw in my assignment the same book being discussed. After class, a girl came by and talked to me. She was the one writing the other essay, and guess what, she was also blindly assigned to grade my work.

No matter how many new books I’ve read, The Thorn Birds will always remain as the most special one. Thanks to it, I found my better half and soulmate of lifetime. It has been almost twenty years since I first talked with my wife on that sunny, September afternoon. Yet, it feels like only yesterday. Together, we have embraced so many ups and downs in life, and I cannot wait to continue exploring the world with her.