Someplace Else

These tears will stop falling so easily as each day passes. Although I am home in NC, my senses still cling to Thailand. I see the bustling city streets full of life and relationships; my tastebuds on fire with freshly made food with ingredients from a not-so-distant farm; smelling the familiar aroma of this country, combining a smokey flavor from the farmers burning their crops, to a myriad of spices floating from the street vendors; together with the energy of the city that somehow motivates you to get out and explore. This feeling doesn’t last long, so I savor it as long as I can. It will sneak back into the shadows where memories live. 

   I can still feel the touch of my hand interlocked with his and see his smooth arm that’s slightly darker than mine. I’ll hold the memory of him jumping out of the car to open my door every time we park or insisting he carries anything I have in my arms. When I say I can do it, he says, “Oh, come on, Dawn, let me do it.” I let him. I can feel his touch on my back, as he is smoothing my hair in place. He is my Daddy, and I am his daughter. We are making up for the lost time. Forty-nine years we lost—spent apart from one another. We can never get that back, so our only choice is to move forward—to which my Dad says, “Let It Be.”

I’ll miss his laugh and his voice as he sings to me. Music is the catalyst that bonds our souls together. Music is universal and knows no language barrier. 

My Dad sang American Rock-N-Roll to GIs in the late 60s. He taught himself the guitar and The Beatles songs. That’s how he learned to speak and read English. He plays by ear, never having had a lesson, and memorizes everything. I am in awe of his natural talent. This latest trip, one particular song became his favorite to play or sing to me. With a loving look and a smile, he’d share his idol George Harrison’s "Someplace Else."  The song begins...

You got into my life. I don’t know how you found me. But you did. It stopped me heading some place else.

(take a listen to my new favorite song)

  I close my eyes and visualize being there; the daily life of another culture—in crisis.

I watched my people… the Thai communities, working together with compassion, each doing

what’s necessary to make the situation better. I witnessed compassion from stranger to stranger. They are in this together, as we are here in America. Survival is an underlying current you feel in all cultures, but kindness always wins. You will never regret compassion.

Love each other well. May we all become more quality human beings.

So now I find myself on lockdown, self-quarantined at our little beach place, away from anyone. This is a safe place for me—a place of refuge and sanctuary, allowing for self-reflection and much needed time to write material for my memoir. I feel my beautiful mother-in-laws spirit all around me. This was her favorite place to be. Barbara put her heart and soul into making this a home away from home, and she succeeded. Forever thankful.

You never know how God will answer your prayers. Unlike any moment in my past, I find myself up around 6am each day—a total flip in my script. Haha. Folks, I love to sleep in! But I believe those days are over. 

With the morning darkness, I prepare my coffee and snuggle into my chair and open my mind to all the thoughts aching to be freed onto the page. I often read a devotional or open my Bible to help me get to a place of knowing or freedom in my expression—that place where words free fall from you and when you reread them, you don’t remember writing them. I love this place of total oneness with the God of the Universe.

I will forever be grateful the day we found my Dad was the day my journey took me, “Someplace Else.”