Climbing the Walls

Yesterday was Visakha Bucha Day, or Buddha Day, in Thailand.  That meant a day off for Kiddo and J.  I am still on the mend, so I was taking it easy, but it was nice to have the ladies around for the day.

They, however, made plans with the Becksters to go climbing.  

Not much to say about that, other than look at how dang cute they are!

While they were climbing, I gave a call to Schmittah and we talked for an hour.  It was nice to chat and catch up a bit.  We’ve known each other for 20+ years now, so it’s just like that with us.  We can talk weekly or once a year and it just falls back into the old patter and pattern of friendship.  When Doc J was out to visit.  It just slips into the friendship and comes easy.  

Ironic that as I write this my Spotify DJ Mix is playing the Joe Cocker version of With a Little Help From my Friends.  I’ll let that stand as is and just chalk it up to coincidence, the cosmos, and randomness.  I’m sure chaos/non-linear theory would have something to say about that, but I don’t have enough concrete understanding of that kind of mathematics to really go into that. 

The rest of the day was lazy.  We played some legos.  We had dinner.  We read, colored, and just Kiddo’d out.  It was a nice day.  A refreshing day.  

Today, as we were getting ready for school, Kiddo had a little moment of wishing the school year was over.  So, we counted the days.  21 school days left.  18 days off.  39 total days in Thailand.  It’s starting to pick up speed.  

Also, I would like to note now— There will be some delays this summer in posting.  On top of being busy, I just want to lock into J and Kiddo this summer and not have to break away or take time away to blog.  I’ll catch up and post as I can, but (as an example) in our time in SF, we land and check in.  Eat and sleep.  The next day is busy with B.  The day after that is busier.  The day after that is errands and last minute things and clerical stuff that’s needed - update tech, library cards, DMV, banking, and things like that.  So, there’s not much time to blog or even break away.  I can catch up on flights.  Just wanted the constant readers to know that we didn’t disappear, just got busy.  

Other notes from the summer trip.  We will be getting a third contributor to the blog.  I don’t want to write too much about it, because sometimes she does read along with J, but Kiddo will be getting a gift this summer.  Call it a late Bday gift.  Call it a summer travel gift.  Call it a moving across the world for almost half your life gift, but Kiddo will be getting a gift this summer that will allow her to contribute to the blog a bit.  We are excited for it and can’t wait to see what comes of it.  Once the item(s) are in hand for Kiddo, we will get some pics and share some more.  Until then, stay tuned.

With all that said, we march to the end of this path and look with anticipation, excitement, and a small bit of anxiety to the next path and then the one after that.  We are enjoying the last of it.  We are taking in all the people and places that have become our community and home in these last three years.  We are enjoying the last days of Thailand’s rains, the thunder and electric storms, the heat, the humidity, and just the everyday of our life here.

There is no way to thank those that have helped us make this home for the last three years.  There is no way to tell all of those people how much they have meant to us, helped us with the language, taught us, guided us, and treated us like locals.  From the market folks to the random Grab Drivers who have shown us kindness or excused our little language follies and helped us be better at being Thai, we thank you.

We will miss those people and our daily/weekly interactions.  We will miss the market and the Plurn Dee night market.  The soi dogs.  The random 7Eleven staff.  All of it.  They have been our community for the last three years and they will be missed.  

Let’s go, Kiddo… everyday is one less day.  Every rain could be the last.  Let’s have a fruit smoothie, eat some market food, and enjoy the last days of heat.  Soon, life will be in Shanghai and that means seasons, winters, and wet.  Mumma and I can’t wait to see you in that world.  We can’t wait to see the next after that.  We can’t wait to watch you grow and expand.  Just not too fast, because we also enjoy you everyday as you are now.  You’ve spent half of your life outside the States and will just expand that over the next 2, 4, 10, 20 years.  Growl you!