Restless Anticipations of HOME

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It's 2:40 am and our plane leaves at 6:30. I have not slept a wink. Erin just headed off to catch a couple of minutes of sleep.

We have been going since early yesterday (Sat) morning.... helping two excited kids pack, get breakfast, stay out of each others' business, get measured for clothes by Ba Nhoi and then loaded up in Papa Gerald and Grandma Kathy's SUV. We sent them on their own mini-adventure to Bemidji, to spend Spring Break on the white sand beaches (albeit frozen) of Lake Bemidji.

We ran around this afternoon, evening, night and now early morning getting everything in order for our departure. Our theory is.... why not start to acclimate to the jet lag before you even leave the comforts of HOME. Since there's a 13 hour difference between MN and Vietnam, why not pretend for a day that we are already in that time zone. Hence, we pulled an all-nighter and are now on Vietnam time. Isn't that a great excuse to procrastinate and do all your packing at the last minute? Well, whatever the reason, I'm still up and going strong.

Friend have asked me how excited I must feel, returning to my birthplace for the first time. To be honest, it's a lot of excitement mixed with wonder, a dash of fear and to some degree of indifference. It's hard to explain the indifference... I think it stems from not knowing what to expect from what my own reactions will be upon arriving in Vietnam.

Will it be totally shock and awe with tears of joy?

Or a subdued feeling of wow everyone here looks like me?

Or hey it's a beautiful place to spend my 10th anniversary honeymoon, so let's party?

Likely it will be a mixed of all the above and some. In any case, I'm trying my best to not over analyze it and stay open to whatever feelings come to me at the moment. To accept whatever may come from this trip, good, bad, or otherwise.

The one thing I know is that I will be sharing the moments to come with my soulmate and best friend, so it's bond to be special. This is a trip Erin has been asking me about for years. And one I have avoided for various reasons. Well, the time has arrived. It's time to go HOME, to a place I can't remember, but in the faintest of dreams. A place known only in the deepest recessed of my mind. So deep, I've never been able to truly tap those memories. To the home where I hid a certain something in my grandmother's refrigerator (a story for another day).

So, wish me fair winds and following seas. I'M GOING HOME.

Qui Tan Nguyen (aka John Doan - another story for another day)

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Comments

[Josh]

Lovely post, John
John, this was a great post. Can't wait to read about your travels and then, of course, to hear about them from you both. Fly safely!