Project Red Pin.

There is an overwhelming feeling of connection and community I feel for my fellow orphans.  Even though, up to this point I have had a few brief conversations, text messages and visits with each of them  I cannot imagine going back to how it was before.  I can’t say that I know any of them well,  but also I know them in a very intimate way too.  The shared loss and fears we’ve all felt connects us more than many decades old friendships can.   Connecting with my orphan siblings, has been a process that runs through so many emotions that I still cannot fully explain the impact it has had on me.  Reaching out to people and praying for an affirmative reply that could come at any moment is tough.   Sometimes the reply came quick, in a matter of days.  In most cases when a reply did come it took time.  Each one with its own unique set of questions and answers.  Some people would ask me questions about our story to see how much I knew. My ...

This whole trip/reunion idea started about four years ago at our first "reunion."  It was mid-Covid and someone in our Babylifter group had the idea of having a ZOOM call so we could at least see each other and talk.   We had no plans in place as far as getting together even though we knew it would happen eventually.  There was six people on the call.  Kouy, John and Christal were there, along with Mary and Lois Ower (Thea's mother - look back at previous blogs for his story). The ZOOM call was the first time any of the other babylifters had spoken to another one except me for well over forty years.  There was of course a sense of something special happening, as well as the expected uneasiness of speaking to someone who you should know, and in a way you do know, but also have no idea about.   The conversation went all sorts of different ways, asking about each other, getting a little more back story on our story.  Lois was very helpful in tha...

Other than our 50th anniversary another reason we wanted to come this time of year was to be here for the Khmer New Year celebrations.  I’ve never seen it and don’t really know much about it, so I felt it would be a great way to be introduced to another aspect of the culture.   From the research I’ve done, it is described as a nation wide water fight, with color powder as well.   I believe its roots come from India.  The celebration is to denote the end of the hot dry part of the year and the beginning of the rice season.   I know we in the US think we have national holidays, but we don’t.  We have days where everyone says the same words to each other and maybe think about the history behind them. But that’s nothing like this.  When I said nation wide water fight that is what I meant.  Everyone has water guns, some have buckets and some just stand with a hose.  For the most part you can be safe if you don’t have a water gun, but not always. ...

After we returned to the Hotel, the four of us when for a short swim in the roof top pool.  It has been my experience that pool in Cambodia are always a little warmer than you might want them to be. In this climate, the colder the pool the better.  Problem is the water will always get warm.  To be fair, they are cooler than the air so they do serve a purpose.   Tree had arranged for us some pre-tour activities.  Our first adventure was taking the kids to into the busy rush hour traffic in a tuk-tuk of downtown Phnom Penh.  Unfortunately they did not freak out as I hoped.  They were pretty calm about it.  Even when we would drive down the wrong side of the road with large trucks and cars headed right for us, they all seemed to handle it fine.  I wanted some pained grinning, maybe an 'Oh, boy.'  Heck, I would have been good with finger nail marks in something, but no, after paying all this money to bring them here, I don't get anythin...

As far as the majority of world is ; concerned the date, April,12 1975 doesn’t hold any significance. For some around around the world this day can be considered special. For a small number… 20 to be exact, this day represents our exit from our homeland and the start of our new lives. As much difficulty as we 20 orphans have faced, and as many hidden pieces of baggage we have, flourished and as one of our tour mates said, “just the survival of your four (pointing to John Christal, Kouy and I), have continues your lineages.” I’d never thought of our survival in those terms. Feel that this mindset could be something worth considering.  Between the five of us there are 19 kids in the next generation of this  family  I know it won’t fix anything for me but reframing some of my toxic thoughts might help me build something new.   The last 50 years for my home land has been know mostly for something other than the massive temples and building they built ...