My Living Calendar

I didn't realize when my little Megan was born that she would be my living calendar.  I won't sit here and pretend I remember every detail of that day in April 1996 sitting out in the Tu Du Hospital waiting area in Saigon while Diep gave birth.  Or that I remember with great clarity any single event that has occurred with her no matter how significant or seemingly insignificant it was at the time.  The great truth is that I remember most things in a very broad stroke and let my mind fill in the holes, as I believe most people do. There are what I would like to refer to as little vignettes that I have stored in my mind throughout my life as early as when I was two or three years old. I can go through them when they come to mind and I reminisce.

So, I can remember the time Megan burned her hand on the iron just outside the bedroom of the rickety little house we rented in Cau Kho Ward in Saigon. As I remember walking around with her in my arms at night in Saigon, riding with her in her little motor scooter seat on our Honda Dream II, and seeing her land in the U.S for the first time.  I have some DVDs of home movies we made right after getting to the U.S. and some evidence of how quickly Megan learned English. I have some video somewhere of Megan riding a bicycle without training wheels at Municipal Park just after she turned three, and a whole slew of memories since then.

Now Megan is 16 and I use her age to place me on my chronological map:  Diep and I lived in Saigon when she was born; we moved to the U.S. when she was three; we returned to Vietnam when she was six; we lived on Kim Ma Thuong Street when she was seven; we moved to Tay Ho Street and lived there until she was nine; we lived in Co Co Village until she was 14 and now we live on Tay Ho Street again.  I find myself figuring out the year something happened by working out how old she was when it happened.  I guess that might be an indication of how important she is to me.

I think about how she was almost four when we saw the turn of the millennium in Mobile.  That was 12 years ago and she was a little chubby, sweet-hearted child.  She is grown up now and still has the sweet heart, minus the chubbiness.  I think about how fast that twelve years went by and, in my mathematical mind, I can pull a string along that timeline from the year 2000 to now, release the string on the 2000 side, holding the present and draw it out to my 58th year.  Pretty depressing for me, because that time flew by and I can only imagine how quickly the next 12 years will move.

At the age of 16, Megan is just now moving into the chamber that will propel her into the future at a blinding speed.  How well she gets situated in that chamber will play a huge part in her quality of life. She does well in school but more importantly she has a social sense and grace that I never had. I am proud of her and I couldn't have asked for a greater gift from God.