Saturday, September 27, 2014

The time to be happy is now...

I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. I don’t want to get to the end and realise that my life was a series of schedules, appointments and errands.

I want to dance in the rain, sing loudly in the car, laugh till my belly hurts and stay up all night watching reruns, eating pizza and drinking wine in bed. I want to read good books and jump up and down on a jumping castle and be surrounded by people who love me, all of me.

I know I will never be anyone famous, or that many people have heard of. And thats cool, I don’t want to be famous. I want my existence to mean something. I want it to have made a difference to someone. Just one. And I want my children and grandchildren to know it. So they can make a difference too. Thats all.

Sometimes making a difference emerges in the slightest and smallest thing we do. For me, it's small. For the 32 agent orange victims and disabled residents of Peace Village, it's the highlight of the last few months. An outing that would be talked about for weeks, months to come.

I rented three buses and transported all of them 14km down the highway to Mrs Hanh's restaurant.
Amazing superwoman Mrs Hanh who has several mentions throughout my blog, cooked up a storm.
We had the disco lights going, a keyboard player and karaoke with open mic.
The excitement was palpable.
They couldn't wait to get on stage and sing and dance.
And in true Vietnamese fashion, the music was played at an extreme decibel and the
microphones that carried their serenades were deafening.... But all that mattered was that they were all having a blast.
 "Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so" Robert Green Ingersoll.























'A smile is a light in the window of the soul indicating that the heart is at home'

Every time I return, driving up that dirt road to the orphanage gate, I get nervous. The butterflies are very active in my tummy as I anticipate seeing all these angelic faces.
     This time round it's been 7 months. This has been the longest gap in a long time.

It was a Sunday when I rolled up, so I knew they would all be there....
I was going to creep in slowly and as I emerged from behind the tree, I quickly let my video on my phone run.....
Their greetings to me have always been amazing and full of love.
     And this time round, was no different. This one was even more intense and as I heard the echo of my name resonate through the Orphanage, I actually began shaking. My heart was thumping so loud and so fast I was sure I was about to have a myocardial infarction watching them all run up to me, arms wide open.
     I was rooted to the spot, not daring to move, fearing my legs would give way. At one point I had to hold the wall to steady myself. I wanted to burst into tears but couldn't. I looked at all these little faces looking at me with wide smiles, calling my name, making sure I made eye contact with them to ensure I saw them.
They had all grown so big! So much in 7 months!

The love I feel for these children makes me want to burst....
I feel so at home, so at peace here amongst them......
When the routine, monotony and challenges of life back at home get me down, all I do is think of these kids and immediately things are back in perspective: that focus on what truly matters as opposed to the mundane or superficial.
That's one gift these children have given me without even knowing it.

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
     And in my case.... I'm thankful I have over 100 of these beautiful human beings in my life x