A short ton Wilder

We set out on this grand adventure not knowing what it would hold for us, but we just tried to go into it with an open mind and a willingness to experience culture and have an adventure.  Learn something, about this world we live in and the peoples and cultures of it.  Even if it was just for one contract or one year.  We wanted to have an experience, different than the American experience.  

In short, we wanted to experience and realize this life we are living.  Take the most from it that we can.  Give Kiddo opportunities that we never had, never even knew were an option.  That’s ok, that we didn’t have that.  Very few people do.  But, we were in position and had the opportunity and so we did. 

To quote Thornton Wilder, “Does anyone ever realize life while they live it...every, every minute?”-  "No. Saints and poets maybe...they do some.” 

I’d guess that makes me a poet, because I’m self aware enough to know that I’m no saint.

Maybe it’s that self awareness that makes me a poet, maybe I was always a poet and just didn’t know it until I started doing things like this blog.  Maybe it was my past or illnesses and medical history.  Maybe it was a combination of all those things.

I think Kiddo got that as well, but here’s hoping (for the sanity of J and myself as she becomes a girl and then a teenage girl) that she’s more of a saint than a poet.  HAHAHA

Kiddo, however, is so thoughtful and grateful… and strangely gracious, at times.  She’s also a funny little girl.  

On our Tuesday lunches, one of the challenges we faced was being on the lookout for Purple Ninjas (it’s from a kids short story podcast that she listens to) and Dr. Stinky Breath.  Well, one day, she was pretty distracted and in Kiddo Imagination Land and the mall was also doing an event, so there were a LOT of folks wearing purple shirts that day.  So, I hand waved over her and announced, “Invisible shield”.  

Oh lawd!  Now shields are a thing.  Only, in Kiddoland, a shield ins’t just something that makes you invisible so you can eat your hamburger.  Oh no!  Snake Shield!  Cactus Shield!  Knife Shield!  These shields have the properties of snakes (fangs and venom) or cacti (needles and pokes), you get it.  This last Tuesday, during our lunch, she needed a shield.  T-Rex shield!

A T-Rex shield????

Yup, and Dada… T-Rex Shield (waves little hand in my direction).  Now you have it too.  No purple ninjas will get us.  We have T-Rex-tion!

I just left that alone and we kept chatting and having our day.

So, she’s funny.  Clever.  Likes to play with words and language.  She’s already a reader, as much as she can be.  She loves movies and for her age, has the stamina and patience to watch advanced film or get some of the more advanced jokes.  She gets why it’s funny that Donkey (in Shrek) notices he can’t feel his feet because he ain’t got no feet.  She got the mostly dead joke in The Princess Bride.  She, much like me, fills her days with music.  If we’re cooking, or eating, or just in the condo and hanging out, she’ll request music.

She is a poet…. In her own way.

She sees life.  She literally has stopped on a walk to smell the flowers.  She realizes that she is not normal or living a “normal” life.  She talks about old friends and how “they don’t get to do Bangkok.”  She’ll talk about how it’s breakfast for us, so Miss Mabel must be having dinner.  She’s 5 and she understands the time difference between her and others.  She’s got a basic understanding, not like she can break down the dateline and timezones and all.  She understands, though, that she is different and that that difference is oddly special and cool.

She drinks in experiences and asks for more.  How many 5 year olds will sit at a higher end restaurant with her parents and sit for 2 hours eating a cheese and charcuterie board?  Knowing and naming cheeses that she likes?  Asking to go to Paris because she wants to eat there and have cheese there.  Asking to see Korea, Japan, Vietnam… by name and with reasons.  

She realizes that this is a life unusual.  She knows that she is collecting experiences and getting the dust of life on her preverbal boots.  She can’t (as of yet) put that into words, but when your 5 year old thanks you for taking her to Hua Hin, on a river boat ride, or just to a nature cafe to see some plants and walk a little.  She realizes that she’s on an adventure and getting to see and experiences things others can’t or won’t.

Saints and poets….

Let’s go, Kiddo… a whole world awaits us and you've already seen and experienced a ton more than most.  Let's see it all!  Mumma and I love you.