My mantra today was, “Jogging. Jogging is good for me. Yes it is!” I repeated it to myself a few times. But, then there was a long pause as I had to scavenge to find a clean pair of socks and figure out that my toddler’s shoes were secretly tucked in a nook inside her diaper bag.
By this time my momentum had lowered significantly, and my mantra became, “… we had better go, at least we can walk.” We circled up and down the now-familiar streets of our muubaan (neighborhood). The streets here are full of speed bumps the size of small cars, skinny chickens that wander around free-range style, and are sprinkled with flowers for each color of the rainbow.
Before I continue my tale, I must give you a small detail. This is a habit Cora has developed. If she happens to notice a car or motorbike driving towards or away from her she waves bye-bye. Sometimes the person sees her waving at them and they wave back. She rewards these individuals with a smile. Other times they don’t see and we just continue on our way. Well, today a car pulled up beside us.
I was surprised and confused as they stopped. What in the world was going on?
As the windows rolled down we were met with huge smiles. The car was FULL of Thais, and they were all waving back to Cora. This was the only reason they stopped; to wave at Cora. We chatted briefly about Cora’s name, age, and their toddler’s name and age. There was a quiet smile on my face as we each went our separate ways. My step-dad used to say, “Carla has never met a stranger!” And Cora is definitely is my child. I am so grateful to God for our daughter and this country that is so outwardly kind towards kiddos.