I'm celebrating the happiest years of my life today. March 10 is the two-year anniversary of my marriage to Pham Thi Ngoc Phuong. We've been a couple for 42 months and we've lived together for more than three years. We went through heck and high water and bureaucracy to get married. The entire time has been incredible, even when language difficulties and my churlish behavior have caused frustrations. I won't speak for Phuong, the love of my life, but the frustrations and disagreements we have are few and far between, and our relationship always gets stronger once the disagreements are settled with frank and open discussion. Our relationship is forged by the love we share for our daughter Joanna, who can exhibit the volatile nature of her dad and the calm demeanor of her mother in the span of minutes. She is our pride and joy. She's also an endless ball of energy who keeps me and Phuong young at heart, and always tired. I'm blessed. Happy anniversary Dear, I love you and Joanna with all my heart, soul and chi.
I'm extra blessed today because some ass-clown rear-ended my motorbike while I was stopped at a red light, and the ass-clown was carrying three gallons of gasoline in a plastic container on his lap. The ass-clown laughed, of course, and tried to drive away. I grabbed his handlebar so he had to stop, then I made a big deal out of checking my bike for damage in the street, making the other riders go around us. My license plate was bent and scratched, but no other damage to report.
Some sad news from the White Monkey's perspective. Phuong notched her first tennis victory over me since the birth of Joanna. She beat me 6-4 -- fair and square -- last Sunday. I knew I shouldn't have helped her improve her serve. Phuong's gloating has been borderline unbearable. I knew it was just a matter of time. Her ground strokes are solid and deep and her ability to run is amazing. The only thing that was missing was the serve, and thanks to the sage advice of the White Monkey, her service game has vastly improved.
My private English student Sam, like Phuong, has improved dramatically the past week. She's starting to "think" in English -- a phrase I'm stealing from my first and best TEFL boss, Chris Larsen -- rather than spending and wasting time translating everything that's said and what she wants to say back. Her pronunciation of final 's' and '-ed' endings is becoming intuitive. Sam is a joy to teach because she cares -- and she's funny, too.
Joanna turned 20 months old on March 9 (my dad's birthday -- he would have been 103, and he nearly made it. He died at age 98.) Joanna is saying lots of words in English and Vietnamese. My hope is that she's bilingual when (AND IF) we move the United States. That move will depend on the U.S. government. Of course, my main wish for Joanna is that she's healthy and happy going forward.
I had some real issues with dizziness this past week, and I was in bed for a couple of days because I couldn't stand up without blacking out or falling down. But my friend Tommy E., who doesn't read this blog because he's "too busy," suggested a technique to address my problem. Son of a gun ... Tommy's suggestion, along with some wonderful drugs from Trump pharmaceuticals (inside joke for Tommy), worked wonders and now I can stand up without falling down. I face Phuong in tennis today and tomorrow, so we'll see just how well his suggestion worked. I theorize my problem was caused by water that was trapped in my ear after swimming with Joanna. (I'll try plugs and a cap next time.) The water still seems to be there, but the dizziness has faded. Happy times.
No comments:
Post a Comment