I remember in middle school the immature, slightly whiny response to someone's declaration of loving something: "Oh yah? Well, why don't you just marry it?" Marry carrots dipped in ranch dressing? What are you, crazy? I've gone through many different phases of thought about this adolescent exchange. When I was younger I thought it was both hilarious and utterly frustrating depending, of course, on whether I was the giver or the receiver of what was, at the time, a purely genious comment. Later in my life, circa my college years, I looked upon this comment with a sort of esteemed admiration. Many hours were spent with friends reminiscing about the great / odd American culture that we had the pleasure of growing up with: Reading Rainbow, pogs, Duck Tales, the "why don't you marry it" comment. I had an appreciation of this comment; the kind that one could only have knowing that it was great while it was there but(thank god) that phase of my life is over. Now, as I live my live in another country, I see the phrase not as hilarious, frustrating, or worthy of appreciation, but rather one that so accurately pinpoints a part of the Thai language. There is a very distinct different between the usage of the word like and love. You do not love carrots dipped in ranch dressing. You can only like it a lot. There are ways, of course, to emphasize that you really like something. For example you could say "chop mak jang lui" (I like it a lot, really!) instead of simply saying that, yes, you do "chop" something. But no, the word love is distinctly used for people. I had difficulty with this seemingly unnecessary boundary on the word. If I wanted to say that I loved eating mangoes, loved laying in my hammock, or the colors of the sunset, I found myself restricted by the language. But I see now, upon resurrection of the silly adolscent retort, that ok, saying you actully LOVE a fruit is kinda, well....silly. Is it something you would actually stand at an altar with? Well, of course not. What am I? Crazy?

Yesterday was the first in many many number of days where I had NOTHING to do, no plans. I woke up late and decided to relish in the glory of a free day by reading. As I sat down I heard my name yelled from the street outside my window. "What are you doing?" the little voice asked. How could I explain to my favorite four year old that I was enjoying my first morning of freedom in months? I couldn't. "Nothing", I replied. "I'm coming up, then", was his immediate response. As he, other village kids, and I continued on with our day I eventually pulled out my extra American money. My 51 extra bucks is quite a bit of baht (aout 2, 000) but they were only interested in the not so usefull pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. I gave them all away and as I stowed my bills away again, the kids began playing a very simple coin throwing game. Whoever threw their coin further without going over a certain line won the coins. They asked me to play but watching them was better. I took a front row spot in my hammock, my four year old climbing in to lay with me. As we watched these kids play shoeless with their American money, it hit me that I could do this all day. I was content, happy, and I LOVED where I was. I thought about the translation in Thai and how again, it just wouldn't, just couldn't be the same. I found myself thankful for the english language; that I had the option of chosing the word love at that moment as "liking it very much" just didn't seem to suffice. A smile formed on my lips as I imagined the smaller Sadie in middle school, recieving the inevitable phrase. No, I didn't actually want to marry this situation: this collection of people, places, things, events, in my life that are bringing me such immense joy. Can't I just love it anyway? Yah, I can :)