Well, we are sitting at Suvarnabhumi (Sue-wanna-poom) Airport in Bangkok, awaiting our flight to Hong Kong and then on to LA with an overnight there before heading out to Tucson the next morning.  Very long day/night, arriving home on the morning of the 26th.

It never gets easy to say goodbye…especially, when you are saying goodbye to a 3 year old.  I have tried over the last 16+ years to overcome my “blues” as the day approaches and I have done a pretty good job.  I shed only a few tears as the taxi drives away and I quickly stretch to get my head out the window that Ron has rolled down to wave  one last wave.  Many years ago, I promised myself that I would not dwell on what I do not have…I choose to celebrate what I do.  And so, I celebrate and celebrate and celebrate some more the joy that comes when we are together.  I offer thanks for the opportunity to be here when we can.  I celebrate moments like this…

At Erawan Falls near Kanchanaburi yesterday:  Chasing “mariposas” or butterflies in the park.  It is easy to think about the times we are not with Sojo and in the process we can forget the precious moments we do.  I am so glad that I started this blog to record those precious moments and remember them with the joy and wonderment that we see in this sweet girl.  We are blessed to have the good health to travel like this.  We are glad we have made trips like this a priority in our budget. 

We also got to see Sojo’s delight in seeing some animals at a wild and domesticated animal park while in Kanchanaburi.  She enjoyed the domesticated cows, pigs, horses and roosters more than she enjoyed the tigers.  This was called Tiger Temple where some Buddhist Monks have created a refuge for the tigers.  Matt got some amazing pics of the tigers.  Us?  Not so much.  But here they are.  Rooster … Tiger…they were in a habitat and also brought around so you could “pet” and have your picture taken with them.  We chose not to.  I am not a big fan of tattoos, but I have to say, this Monk’s really fasinated me.  I was also fascinated by his smoking.  I guess I had this “holier than thou” attitude about Monks, thinking they would not do such a thing. This young man had tattoos all the way to his waist.  Maybe further, but I could not see that.  My understanding of Thai Monks is…most young men in their early 20’s choose to enter a monastery (temple/wat) for 3-6 months.  They do not always choose to commit to it for their entire life.  It is a way that the young men learn how to be a “good man”.  Thai women will look more fondly on a man who has had this experience, than one who has not.  It makes sense to me.  I think it would make perfect sense for young men to do that in all countries.  Women too.  Learning how to be a good man or good woman sounds good to me.