Tuesday afternoon....

Last Tuesday, I got an unexpected call from someone I know from the wat. She told me she wanted to get together to discuss something we are working on and that we would do it over at someone else's house.

Because I'm very literal, I figured that's exactly what would occur. We would talk about the issues and then everyone would go their own way.

I should have known differently! We ended up spending the whole evening together. We cooked, ate, looked at fabrics, talked about different things, listened to mor lum music together and generally relaxed.

It was a wonderful way to spend the evening.

Here's the funny part though. At one point, the woman who brought me (I'll call her Mary) and the host's husband (I'll call him John) began a rather animated discussion in Lao. It doesn't bother me when they do that. I just sit there and wait until they're done.

Mary turned to me and said, "How old are you again?" I told her.

They returned to their animated conversation.

She translated it for me later. It went something like this:

John: She doesn't have a husband?

Mary: No. She's single.

John: Oh, that's not right! We have to find a good man for her! A woman shouldn't be alone!

Mary: Chani doesn't date. She hasn't had very good experiences with men in this country. They all just want to go to bed with her.

John: Oh, I do not know men like that! I know good men! We'll find someone for her! A good man! I don't want her to be lonely!

Now ordinarily, I would be irritated by a conversation like that. It feels kind of... intrusive. Yet John said all of this with absolutely no guile, no ill-intent, with complete innocence, and it was obvious he only had my best interests at heart. He was looking out for me, like an older brother.

Somehow it seems rather touching and sweet that he would want to find someone for me in his community, someone to keep me from being lonely.

It also felt very inclusive.

I felt embraced.

~*