**There are a few more posts, that are unfinished, that will be added under the “Bangkla Nights” category**
When we left for Thailand I never imagined how emotional of a trip it would be. I knew I would have fun and I knew it would be great to see where my mom grew up and where my grandfather worked, but it was more than that. I had an opportunity to fall in love with the country and the people that my grandfather and mother know so well. I had an opportunity to grow closer to my mother, who was half way around the world. I had an opportunity to learn about and get to know a cousin that I had grown apart from. I had and opportunity to see my grandfather with an excitement and purpose in his eye that I have never seen before. I had an opportunity to make new friends who provided me with more encouragement than they will ever know.
The things I was able to see and the people I was able to meet have me longing for more. As I sit in a well air-conditioned house in Texas I find myself missing Thailand. I miss mornings and reading with my grandfather, and the evenings spent with my cousin. I miss taking pictures of new things, and I miss having something exciting and new to write about. I miss the faces of friends who have become familiar, and I miss the time spent with those friends, even if we didn’t speak the same language. I have spent two weeks emerging myself in a culture and now I find that I have left a small part of myself behind and replaced it with a small part of something new. In the end, I have had more than a great time, more than words can express, more than photos can capture, and more than the stories I tell will reveal. In the end it was dee tee sut.