Bold Hearts

It couldn’t have been more fitting. We sat at a folding table with plastic chairs in a small parking lot eating som tam (spicy raw papaya salad) and sticky rice – just as we did on our first date and again on our first Valentine’s Day. Only instead of doing it at a restaurant in the Thai Town section of Hollywood, we did it in Thailand.

Emily met me at Palms Thai Restaurant for our first date. We had agreed on the phone in advance that if she didn’t hate me, we would go to the Thai dessert shop down the way afterward. I told her that even if it didn’t work out, she should at least come and try the coconut sticky rice and we could still part friends.

Lucky for me, when dinner ended she wanted to go for the coconut sticky rice – so we drove down the street to Bhan Kanom Thai and picked out a few items. There were no tables, so we crossed the parking lot, sat on the curb and talked over fried bananas and these little grated coconut pancakes I like to call “coconut tasties” in English.

It was magical. Emily was magical and we had our next date three days later. Followed by another three days and then three and then two…. That started October 29, 2008.

By February 14, we were very serious. We agreed not to get engaged before the six month mark because even though we knew we wanted to, anything before six months felt too crazy.

I kept our date a surprise and picked her up wearing the same red sweater I wore on our first date and took her on the exact same date again – right down to the coconut sticky rice on the curb.

While it doesn’t altogether surprise me, I hadn’t imagined we would have essentially the same date again in Thailand. We even had the parking lot.

This time, our restaurant was a makeshift operation – a hybrid of a street cart and an actual restaurant. They had menus, took our orders and brought us a check at the end, but all the food was made on street carts and a metal barbecue. It makes sense only in Thailand.

That was what was so wonderful about it. Somehow, our ideas and dreams have continued to build on each other and come to fruition each time. I say it often and it’s so true – we’re very blessed.

Looking across the table at Emily’s face reddening from the very potent Thai chilies, my heart couldn’t have felt more in the right place. I couldn’t have been happier, more content or more in love.

Once she had some water and a little rice to stop the burning, I think Emily felt the same.

This year of ours has been full of joys, amazing places, challenges and surprises. It’s the kind of experience that can only work with the right person. For me, Emily’s it.

In the past two months, we’ve had more stresses than we did starting out on this trip. Internet plays such a big role in our lives and success. It’s one of the few downsides to working as we go. The inconsistent Internet of Nepal and India took its toll on us slowly but surely. With Emily’s workload spiking at the end of India, she was under additional stress. When she’s stressed, I’m stressed and vice versa. So, it felt less happy-go-lucky than Greece and Turkey.

Somehow in Greece, work felt like it went by and our memories are filled with water, sun and islands. We had a lot of fun. Toward the end of India, things felt like a lot of work, some necessary errands and weekends. That’s because I was working more than eight hours a day and Emily was cursing out her computer.

Since we’ve been in Thailand, it’s been easier again. Emily finished a couple of classes last week and has a lighter schedule now. Things have realigned. We see the light of day more. We go out every night. The sabai sabai (relax relax) attitude of Thailand has been good for us.

The way it lined up with Valentine’s Day was perfection.

Emily is a great partner in life and in travel. When it come to being in new places, she’s happy to jump in and try almost everything. Provided it’s not riding a motorcycle without a helmet or a piece of meat with bones in it, she’ll give it a shot.

She’s not phased by hectic crowds, different ways of doing things, insane post offices or poop of any kind.

Emily will get close to almost anyone in almost any situation to take a photo. She’ll turn any bus or train seat into a bed. She’ll have her head massaged with strange oil. She’ll eat dried roasted squid off a cart, visit cults, and hang with the guys picking out their prostitutes. She hurls herself into the ocean or sea at every occasion. Emily marches forward boldly.

More importantly, when the going gets rough – Emily figures it out. She never waivers in her dedication to her work, me, us, our trip, our life and our dreams. When something isn’t working, she’s willing to zoom out and find a new perspective. Emily is not averse to radical change or shifting course if it makes things work better. This comes both from her creativity and her courage.

Although she jumps out of her skin when so much as a poodle barks at her ever since an incident with some fierce Kathmandu street dogs – Emily is not afraid of any of the things that paralyze so many people.

Monday night, as we sat in the warm, balmy night air listening to a group of three Thai girls serenade a couple with “The Answers Are Blowing In The Wind” – because it’s an English song they knew – I knew they were wrong. At least for me. The answer was sitting across the table, burning with the heat of Thai red chili peppers and a passion for life.

Sent from my iPad