Stay inside and keep warm.
It’s a chilly and windy day in Paksong and a good day just to stay inside with On and Jeremy Aaron. It’s one of the rare days since I have been here when it has just been us three; usually there’s been some one stopping by to see On or one of her two sisters but today it is very quiet. Maybe a lot of people are also staying in.
The three of us are just keeping warm, watching some TV and in my case, catching up on some writing. I bought this small space heater in Korea for On and Jeremy Aaron and today we are all getting a lot of good use out of it. In Laos, at least in On’s village the homes are not insulated for this kind of cold and wind. When it gets cold people just fire up one of those “home fires” or bundle up as best as they can if they stay inside.
It’s a little after 2:30 in the afternoon and Jeremy Aaron is taking another nap (today I had him smiling and laughing a lot when I tried my best Fred Flintstone impersonation-”Yabba Dabba Do” for him; he loved it a lot). On is asleep on the floor next to me. Jeremy Aaron wakes up and I rock his cradle for a few minutes before he falls back asleep again. I serenade him with “Rock-a-bye-Baby” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” He doesn’t seem to mind that I cannot carry a tune and that I sometimes mess up (butcher would be more appropriate) the lyrics. That little smile of his is all I need to see to know that I am doing something right.
These are the moments I am going to miss a lot in six days when I return to Korea and all the uncertainty that awaits me there and the days and weeks to follow. For now I am relishing and cherishing every moment that I have with my family.
