Lets do a video and a quick story for August:
I posted the music blog in the middle of last month. So, this will be the official August post. One story and one video seem about the right speed.
The video is 9 minutes in duration.
A Story of Grace:
Grace was one of the first people Diane and I had met when we came to Chiang Mai. She was genuinely friendly and welcoming. We needed a little of that. Yeah, I could take on another grandniece. With a warm smile and bubbly personality, she seemed 18 years old, just out of high school and on her first job. Or, so it seemed. We would see her every week on ‘pizza night’. She would always take some time to help me with Thai speaking skills.
Her mom fell ill a few months ago. I believe it was a stroke. She took some time off from work to help with her ailing mother in Rangoon across the border in Myanmar. After some months she found someone to take over duties with her mom’s care. When she returned to Chiang Mai, that innocent child I had met ceased to exist. She seemed to have aged 10 years. She was able to conjure up a smile for me but could tell it took an effort. Then last night when picking a pizza from Pizza My Heart, one of the owners, Joo Lee took me aside and in a hushed voice let me know that Gracie’s mom had passed away. She had learned this an hour ago and went home from work.
I had asked if she is going back to Rangoon. He just said no, without any details. Later, as I sat on my swing in front of the restaurant, I wondered “is she not going home because of money?” She is not of means by any stretch of the imagination. But I am. It may seem dramatic, but the words “Not on my watch” rang in my head. I walked back in and walked towards the back to find the owner. I asked him about this. He implied that she has a lot on her hands here, with family and such. I told him I wanted to help if I could. He told me that the restaurant crew was gathering some monies to help with expenses for the family. The other Burmese employee joined the conversation. I felt…. a lot at that moment. I grabbed all the big bills in my wallet and handed them to the young man. He asked my name so he could pass it on. I didn’t want Gracie to feel indebted to me or change our uncle/niece relationship one iota. It was a fair amount of money. I let him know to make it anonymous.
This is one of those ‘judge a book by the cover’ things. As I talked more with Joo Lee, I learned that Grace was married and had a child. You could have knocked me over with a feather. My Gracie? Well, good for her. She is impressive. With a Burmese mother and a Thai father, and including English, she is fluent in 3 languages. That is exactly two more than what I can speak.
I am writing all this down because it reminded me of ‘carpe diem.’ Seize the day. As I’m sitting in ‘my’ swing set sipping a chilled beer as I wait for my pizza. Bruno Mars is playing overhead, geckos are chirping, and the evening is settling in just as the rain ended. Parts of the sky are now showing some powder blue before being overtaken by darkness that is just around the corner. Diane and I will watch an episode of something Korean on Netflix while we munch on pizza, and I’ll have a glass or two of excellent wine. My life is indeed remarkable. Remarkable? No, my life is resplendent.
Gracie has her whole life in front of her. Me, I have more years behind me than in front of me by a long shot. “Carpe diem’
It struck me that we have been here long enough, such that someone takes me aside and talked about the death of someone’s mother. Along with that, we spent the other day at a one-year old’s birthday party. Gift in hand then singing the birthday song to an unaware infant. The whole shebang. We are no longer traveling. We live somewhere. That somewhere is here in Chiang Mai.
The Plumbing War
I hesitate to start writing about this. As I have mentioned before, once I write something it gets ingrained for eternity. This is a war that I think Diane and I will ultimately lose and maybe it is best just to let it go.
This will have a conclusion by next month’s post. I hope. I’d hate to tease this and not have it come to fruition. Stay tuned as the say “in the biz.”