| Monday, September 18, 2006 |
| "Every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time." |
This long weekend was spent making plans, and two big things have fallen into place:
1) Thailand for Christmas! I've talked with the orphanage, the dates are set, and I'll be back at Baan Unrak in 3 months! I think my sister is coming if our plans align, so I'd get to have real family and Baan Unrak family at the same time. Baan Unrak means "House of Joy", and I can't wait to be back there. Asobimashou!
2) My friend Natalie and I are going to be leading a PEPY trip to Cambodia for next Golden Week! Come with us! There are many reasons I want to do this, but one of them is a rather sad one. Many of you know how much my trip there in May affected me, and it was one of the most intensely emotional weeks of my life. Something many of you don't know is that a good friend from our volunteer group, Noah Simring, committed suicide in July.
 My favorite memories of Noah are from this day, when he and I were running around with these kids at Bayon Temple. It was blazing hot, and the first time for all of us to see Angkor Wat, and the experience was magical by any account. This day and all the others are so vibrant in my mind, and images of Noah are strong in every single one: the afternoons building the houses, the cool evenings out at bars, the sickening drizzly day at the Killing Fields, muggy mornings lounging over banana shakes, the night we all spent dancing and laughing at the wedding. The memories haven't changed, but the pain and joy with which they're associated has intensified, and I've woken up shaking and crying some mornings thinking about Noah. When you know someone only in an intense burst of time/ place/ circumstance, you don't always realize how little you know about what they must be going through in their everyday life. There isn't much I can say beyond that I wish Noah could know how much he is loved and missed by his family and friends. Even if being back in Cambodia won't reduce any of the sadness, it's the tiny gesture that we want to make in memory of an amazing person. |
posted by Raychaa @ 10:30 PM  |
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| 1 comments: |
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While reading your post, it all came back to me. I closed my eyes and I literally saw and felt everything in my heart. It can never be the way it was, but we will always have it in our hearts..
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Name: Raychaa
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About Me: “No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this - 'devoted and obedient'. This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman.” (Florence Nightingale)
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While reading your post, it all came back to me. I closed my eyes and I literally saw and felt everything in my heart. It can never be the way it was, but we will always have it in our hearts..