Farewell Yazz!!!

Family,

My 2 Aussies - the only thing one's missing is the accent

And a good evening to you from across the globe after another GREAT DAY in the Lion City.  So first off, I realize that the Bull owes you 2 weekends worth of Thailand, , and I'll definitely get to that.  However, I must also confess that the Bull hasn't been this exhausted since, well, Mount Kinabalu, and so the blog is going to be short tonight.  Throw in the fact that I also haven't had 10 minutes alone with my wife in 2 weeks (and NO - I don't mean like that...), and you can understand why I want to make this a quick blog and early night.  Fret not, as Muffin Puffin is officially back in Sing Sing and is about to usurp me as the lead blogger on this journey, which will include some AMAZING trips and photos.  For now, however, I'll spin you the yarn of a great final meal and trip finale with Yazz.

Today was a good day at work, despite the fact that our flight landed 2 hours late from Phuket and consequently I was EXHAUSTED at work.  I did get a Starbucks, but since the crew was entirely new, no one looked behind me and enquired as to where my "lady" was when I just asked for a single cup o' joe.  Lunch was, of course, a foot long tuna on parmesan oregano at Subway (which I've had at least twice a week for the past 4 months.  In retrospect, it's pretty disgusting, but at the same time, so guuuuuuuuuuuuud...peppy cheekies.  Seriously - when you live in Asia, there are just some moments when only Western Food will suffice.  Carly - tell Megs if they could bring caesar's from the Keg out here, they would make a MINT), and I got out of there about 6:30 to get back for a last meal with Yazz.  We ended up at (where else?) Wine Connection, where we CRUSHED some cheese, hummous, and pasta, along with 2 bottle of a very nice Shiraz/Malbec.

The evening past WAAAAAAY too fast, and suddenly it was 8:44 PM, at which point I thought, "Damn, in six minutes Yazz has to catch a taxi to the airport."  And then, just over 2 weeks from the time we met her at the airport, we were hugging her goodbye, the two girls crying and me fighting back tears.  Jenny had 2 weeks with her, and I'd been there for all 3 weekends, but still - time just flew.

I feel like my blogs have been a bit dramatic lately, and for that I'll apologize to the readership, as I know the last thing you want to read with your morning coffee is some melodramatic wanna-be author pontificating about his deep thoughts which are actually shallower than Jack Handy.  That being said, after more than 2 years out (with some serious travel before that) with only 4 weeks at home during that spell, it's been tough to watch so many wonderful friends come and go.  And it's not just the travelers - Yazz, KJ, Matt (whom I just met for the first time in Thailand, btw, and who is EXTRA AWESOME.  Granville 6 - you're gonna love this guy...), J-Wade, Rebecca, VA, you name it - it's also the people who live in the places we've been fortunate enough to call home whom we know we'll only see in all too brief glimpses in the coming years and decades that make being an expat such a roller coaster of emotions.  We have met so many truly AMAZING people on this magic carpet ride, and the experiences we've had fill our hearts with every memory.  The other side of the equation are the folks we've left behind - not just family in the states, but also those simply indescribable friendships in the UK, of which Yazz is certainly one.  And perhaps that's what triggered this blog and this gush - the realization that a) we've built something so much deeper than a friendship or acquaintance with a lot of folks abroad, and b) after the next 4 months it will become increasingly difficult to see them and maintain the bond that we hold so dear. 

Lately I feel that I've done a poor job of explaining my emotions (of which there have been many) in recent posts, which I consider a shame given that the last month could very well have been some of the richest prose of my life had I really focused and channelled it.  I'm not sure if that's a) a self-consciousness that goes with not wanting to sound too cheesy to work peeps who read this, b) the reality that the emotions flooding through me can only be understood in flashes and torrents vs. episodes or in their entirety, or c) one too many Amarulas (and Grimshaw - too be clear, I blame YOU AND ONLY YOU for that), but regardless there it is - a fear of inadequacy as a writer.  It's certainly not the first time and most definitely won't be the last, but my greatest fear is not being able to express in this blog how much I love so many of you who've been part of this journey and that you'll never know either how profoundly you've affected Jenny and I or how much you'll be missed when you're so much farther away.  I'll just have to say that "we love and miss you guys, and can't wait to see you again" and hope that's enough, knowing that there's no sentence in literature that will encapsulate the love we've got for folks stretched across 4 continents.  Wow - this really was supposed to be about 10 minutes long and just talk about how good the Syrah-Malbec was at Wine Connection.  In retrospect, maybe I should set an egg timer beside the PC...

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print.  Chat tomorrow!

Love,


Sam and Jenny