The Rewards of Fatherhood

Today (Friday) has ended up being such a good day, that you get two posts to read. (As people roll their eyes thinking, "Great! E thinks being in a good mood is license to wax verbose...") Actually, since the initial post was done prior to dinner, we have evening news to report. So if you haven't read "Cue the Fat Lady" yet, read it first.

On the way back from dinner. we stopped at an art shop that T really liked. Yesterday, when it appeared we would be in Hanoi into next week, we had converted addition US dollars to VN dong; now we have extra dong to spend, as carrying dong back to the US would be pointless. So, we stopped at the art shop to buy a few more gifts. T had made a very nice purchase there last week (and the store clerk had remembered her from T's previous visit, when she had complemented T about her knowledge of VN geography). While E was looking at the artwork, T and C reached for a ceramic knick-knack simultaneously. The result was the knick-knack taking a swan dive and shattering on the floor. After paying for the "oopsie," we also made real purchases, so with one stop we almost entirely depleted our supply of dong and now have to get through tomorrow and pay for the taxi ride to the airport on Sunday. Why did I worry about having too many dong to spend? Oh...T then informed me of three other people we need to buy gifts for.

We then went to a nearby bakery to celebrate our big day with dessert. I ordered two scoops; one for me, one for C. He loved vanilla the other day; tonight he refused to eat it. (T notes that Ba didn't give C his own bowl). But he would feed ice cream to Ba. T didn't want ice cream so got a piece of chocolate torte. She took one bite of it and declared that it was "too chocolately." !!!??? What? Too Chocolately? Inconcievable! My Father always set the example at the dinner table: if others don't clean their plates, Dad does it for them. To honor that tradition, I got to eat all the ice cream AND the cake. To be clear, I did not plan this when I suggested we stop for ice cream. Ah, the rewards of fatherhood...

We returned to the hotel room and had just finished the splash-a-thon with C (a.k.a. a bath), when the phone rang and the hotel staff told me that we had a visitor in the lobby. I went down to find the sales clerk from the art store. First, she handed me the item that we had broken earlier in the evening. She had taped it back together. Then, she said the amount we had spent was a "lucky number" in VN and the manager of the store wanted us to have a gift. She pulled a beautiful ceramic turtle from a box. She then told me how much our story of adopting C had moved her. I have been blessed throughout my life and have always been surrounded by generous people, but I have never been so profoundly touched by a gift. This woman is a retail clerk in a poor country, and I have had every advantage in life, and she seeks us out in our hotel and gives us a gift! I'm not one who believes that God has everything scripted out for us, but there have been several times in my life--and this moment certainly counts--when divine inspiration is at work. I don't think you need to copy this story in an email and send it to seven friends within 30 seconds to have good luck, but I did think hearing this story would make your day a bit better. And you better enjoy it because tomorrow I go back to being a cynical curmudgeon-wanna-be.