Happy Valentine's Day! Here's a heart drawn in the sand with a Cambodian message. I don't read Khmer, but let's pretend it says "Will you be mine?" [*NOTE: Katherine mentioned after this post that it reads "For you only," a Khmer expression for "darling." Beautiful isn't it?]
And for my loves on V-day, I don't have chocolate or flowers, but here's an excerpt from the book I'm reading, "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I was tagged by my friend Crys with this game:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!
6. Tag others to do the same! (KBrock, Katherine and Mike and Kiko ... this one's all you.)
So here's my gift to you...
"While he waited for Hoerni's check to clear, Mortenson converted everything else he owned into enough cash to buy his plane ticket and pay his expenses for however long he'd have to be in Pakistan. He told Marina that he was going to follow this path he'd been on since he met her all the way to the end -- until he fulfilled the promise he made to the children of Korphe. When he came back, he promised her, things would be different. He'd work full-time, find a real place to live, and leave a less haphazard life."
Just reading that passage sounds like a perfectly romantic Valentine's day promise. A rock climber sets off to accomplish his mission to plant a school in a remote area of Pakistan, with the plan to faithfully return to his girlfriend and start a sensible life with her. Well, in the end, Mr. Mortenson faced the reality that things don't always work out as we plan. It's all for the better, because instead of living a reasonable life in California, he made it his life's work to provide education for children all over Pakistan (and possibly central Asia... but I haven't gotten that far yet.)
Thank goodness that life is just a little more haphazard than we expect. If life's practicalities dominated our lives, I could be working a mediocre job in Cleveland instead of sending you a love-filled message from Cambodia. Isn't it funny the paths life leads us?
6 comments:
"If you have a nuclear bomb underneath your house, you should drive very fast to somewhere as far away as possible."
That"ïf" statement tells you that a certain action (hurtling down the motorway to nowhere in particular) is recommended in a certain situation (your house is sitting on a block of plutonium). But if your house is ok, then the action isn't such a good idea- in fact , it would be rather a waste of fuel. Thus the advice is conditional upon a set of circumstances.
I'm on the net in my husbands offices, thats from a book he is translating into khmer, its about how to study the Bible.I think it contains some good Vday advice for us all, and for ppl who live in bushfire areas! can't wait to see wait others come up with!
i asked soeun what the heart says, it says "for you only"the you in that sentence is the one that husbands/men use for their wife/lover, so its a bit like "darling" or something
For you only, darling. I like it. :)
Man, do we have a book out with more than 50 pages? If not, "Go Dog Go" here we come! :)
"While you were tucked away, Italy abandoned the lira and adopted the euro. There's a hundred of them. One euro is about a dollar. I'll be back in about an hour with some clothes. In the file is a small dictionary, two hundred of your first words in Italian. I suggest you get busy."
This really has nothing to do with Vday. It's from John Grisham's book "The Broker". I'm about to read it on the plane to San Diego. Happy Valentines Day!
Hi Rachel,
Katherines last post said she was sick of being sick. Have you heards from her? Is she OK as she has not updated her blog for awhile now. Hope she is fine.
Dave& Nats
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