Happy anniversary to an awesome lady; a horrible scare

Right here, right now, I want to use this space to say how much I love, respect and appreciate my incredible and beautiful wife Phuong as we celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary this week. In the five years we've been married and 6-and-a-half years we've lived together, we've experienced so much: we've gotten new teeth; I've lost a gall bladder; I damaged my kidney and back in three motorbike accidents; tore a tendon in my foot playing tennis; recovered and reclaimed, and then lost the No. 1 family tennis ranking; developed sciatica; we visited Thailand and South Korea; I became estranged from my family for past mistakes and required therapy, which I still receive; I've endured countless skin rashes (I have two now) and smashed my big toe and hurt my left knee in a sudden and spectacular fall on our stairs; a week later I fell out of bed and mildly sprained my right ankle; I've quit smoking and drinking and took up daily reading; and we finally obtained a de facto visa for my wife to enter the U.S. after six years of effort and thousands of dollars spent. All of these events are certainly memorable, but the greatest and most important events of the past 6-and-a-half years for Phuong and I are -- duh, of course -- the births of our daughter Joanna and son Elijah. Our son is so easy-going and pleasant; he smiles constantly and enjoys company. Joanna is certainly more challenging and demanding, but she has such a high intellect, good heart and quick wit for a child 4-and-a-half years old. This pair occupies our every moment, and we couldn't be happier. My wife's devotion and loyalty to our family through good times and bad -- and God knows I've contributed more than my share to the bad -- are a testament to her strong and incredible character. Sometimes I don't deserve it, but I feel I'm the luckiest man alive. Happy anniversary, Dear Phuong.
• • •
My daughter took her independence and free spirit to a higher and more dangerous level this past week, going out our front door and walking by herself to the park, which is a good little walk from our house with several turns. She's never done anything like this before and she rarely goes out in front of our house by herself. When I saw the door open and Phuong coming home, I asked her if Joanna was at her parents' house. When she said no, I panicked and ran upstairs and checked our bedroom. I knew she wasn't there but had to check. No Joanna and no answer. I checked upstairs at her parents' house ... no Joanna, no answer. I ran to the little market around the corner. I asked the clerk and got the frickin' hand shake. I ran toward the park and past a car wash, asking the employees there if they had seen Joanna. One guy just laughed but another pointed to the park. I ran there and saw Joanna strolling in the park carrying her stuffed crocodile and wearing her hat, God bless her. It was 94 degrees at least. I ran to her and picked her up and hugged her. I was almost in tears. Words can't capture the fear and stress I felt as I looked for Joanna. Outlandish and reckless motorbike riders and creepy people walking around make this walk so frightening for a child ...  and parent. Joanna seemed surprised by my reaction as I hugged and squeezed her. She hasn't been out of my sight since.
• • •
Covid lockdown restrictions are slowly being lifted here, with schools now reopened and food trickling back into the markets. Not everyone wears a mask, but I never forget my mask anymore, and our daughter Joanna wears a mask every time she goes out. Our 10-month-old son Elijah won't wear a mask.  Phuong is 50-50 but she's stepped up lately. There's talk of Covid in a beach town a couple of hours away, and lots of folks who live here go there for vacation. But restrictions haven't been ramped up yet and there are no reports of a cluster. Two foreigners I know were in the park we go to (and Joanna walked to) and some of the locals were suspicious. People were worried they had just come into town and perhaps were "contaminated". They weren't wearing masks, which added to the suspicions. My wife assured the concerned locals that the foreigners lived more or less in the neighborhood and had been here a long time.
* * *
 Our son has gravitated naturally to sports, or at least the sports balls in our house. He'll amuse himself for long stretches of time with a soccer ball, knocking it across the room and then crawling after it at high rates of speed. It's fun to watch, since crawling on my knees across the floor with him is out of the question. He's getting close to walking, thank goodness. Faux marble or hard faux wood on top of faux marble are not kind to my old knees. Even Joanna has finally noticed the adverse effects of hitting the floor in our house. But Joanna doesn't care about sports in any way, shape, or form. Books and videos are her bag. She'll run back and forth across a room, she'll play chase at the park, but sports with a ball or racket or any equipment -- even tennis shoes -- is out of the question.