Day 80: Delivery Day

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After a tough day of deliveries yesterday, I was hoping not to be doing a double delivery day. But what I want and what I need are not always the same. We headed out and I was determined to focus on the good. We stopped for bag coffee and I was chatting with Den in the back of the truck about how close (near), close (not open), and clothes all sound similar but mean different things. When I looked up, there were 2 Asian people standing 4 feet away from our truck snapping photos of Den, our filters and me. I gave them a good glare down only to have 3 other people join in the impromptu photo opt. Not a good start to the day. In case I needed a reminder of why you don’t take people’s pictures without asking first this was it. However, the day went up from there. Today everything was directed by ”boss” Den. When I was asking him if he liked being the boss, he didn’t understand. I tried to explain he was the chief or supervisor of us. Still no good. I went to his English to Khmer dictionary and found boss. Den just about died laughing when he realized what I was asking. He said he isn’t the boss or chief. At our last stop, one of the girls had been in a bad motorcycle accident and appeared very lucky to be alive. She had a line of stitches from her ear all the way to the top of the opposite eye. Her eyes, checks and lips were still very puffy. We lingered longer here and chatted with the family and played with the kids. As we were pulling out (to drive across the field, ditch and walking path), Den had us stop and took the funfetti cake Shelby and I had made in the rice cooker and gave it to the family. I think my heart burst with just the sweetness of these men we get the opportunity to work with.

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