Silver Wheels

My Silver Wheels oh my Silver Wheels

Did you adore the joyride

For an hour and a half

With just you and me

On the slippery roads

From Austin Lake Hills to Manchaca

And back again

My hands were firm on the steering wheels

My eyes affixed on the road ahead

I prayed for both of us

To be safely delivered

To our destination intact 

On Bliss Spillar Road

I thought you’d get a rest

While my legs got running to do

But Nature intervened

And the authorities declared

The fields are to be closed

They are too wet to be trampled on

By soccer players and referees

I am glad you were my loyal companion

Taking me safely back to our abode

It was a bitter sweet experience

I did not get to run

But I got a joyride with you

My Silver Wheels oh my Silver Wheels

Chicken Cabbage Salad - 100-word snippet

I made a Vietnamese chicken cabbage salad. It was my granddaughter Milli who went crazy about it. Which was a surprise because she usually is a picky eater. Her brother Drakeson tends to love Vietnamese food much more than she does. She came to me with hands on hip, “My mother grew up with this! Is it too late for me to grow up with it?” “Not all all,” I replied. She went away, satisfied. But wait, she came back five minutes later, crying “This is unacceptable! I am nine and this is the first time I had this dish.”

I Have Found My Groove - 100-word snippet

I did not get to fully live a retired life in the old place because I was busy preparing to move. I wonder in time, if I had stayed, what new interests and hobbies I would have found myself involved in. In the new city, I lamented that I did not have friends to go out to lunch with. That is no longer true. I have found new friends in various new and old activities. I wore an inflatable butterfly costume playing pickleball.  I am into soccer, pickleball, yoga, pilates, weightlifting, stretching, barre, and storytelling. I have found my groove.

Broken Love

You wrote me love poems
Passionately affirming
Sweet and forlorn love
That touched my heart so

You found in me an inspiration
You begged of me an attention
I granted you a look
From then on you got hooked

In adoration you held my hand
My heart was light I felt grand
I knew I needed love that lasts
Forever more and ever more

You wanted me to love you
When you felt lonesome and sad
Promises you didn’t need to hear
Faithfulness didn’t need to be declared

Alas love lasts not forever
I took my wings and said goodbye
In the moonlight you felt regrets
Nursing the broken love I left behind

The English version was written about a month and a half after the Vietnamese version below 

Một Buổi Chiều Tà

Bài thơ tình anh viết
Ngọt bùi lẫn nồng cay
Vần thơ càng lai láng
Hương tình càng say đắm

Em là nguồn thơ hứng
Anh ngửa tay đợi chờ
Em ban anh mắt liếc
Đủ cho lòng chơi vơi

Ta cùng nhau đi chơi
Anh tặng em lời nồng
Em cần tình yêu thắm
Lâu dài cả trăm năm

Anh chỉ cần em thương
Khi đời anh cô độc
Chung tình không cần hứa
Thủy chung hai chữ thừa

Tình không là muôn thuở
Em cất cánh bay xa
Anh ngẩn ngơ nhớ tiếc
Trong một buổi chiều tà

My Garden

How do I pack in my luggage
The quick little hummingbirds
Which hover over the eye-catching feeders
And drink the nectar I had prepared

How do I pack in my luggage
The row of wax myrtles smelling good
Near the crape myrtles with pink blooms
Giving shade to the many birds that come

How do I pack in my luggage
The beautiful flowers in a multitude of colors
Inviting me to the corner of my dream
Where butterflies and bees flutter in love

How do I pack in my luggage
The innocent-and-shy-looking deer
Passing by the garden and asking each other
What to eat in this paradise of earth

I guess I will just have to go
With only clothes in my luggage
The images of peaceful trees and flowers
Will stay in my mind until the day I return

Vietnamese version of the poem

Nhớ Vườn

Làm sao tôi xếp vào va li
Những con chim ruồi nhỏ
Tung tăng bên những bình nước ngọt
Tôi đã pha cho chúng mỗi tuần

Làm sao tôi xếp vào va li
Những cây sim sáp nằm dài
Cạnh vài cây bách nhật hồng lộng lẫy
Gửi bóng mát cho chim xanh ríu rít

Làm sao tôi xếp vào va li
Những hoa tươi đủ màu rực rỡ
Mời đón tôi về nơi ước mơ
Ngắm bướm ong hút mật say sưa

Làm sao tôi xếp vào va li
Những con nai vàng ngơ ngác
Đi qua vườn rảo nhẹ bước chân
Hỏi nơi này thì có gì ngon

Thôi thì đành tôi phải ra đi
Trong hành lý chỉ đem theo quần áo
Hình ảnh đẹp của cây cỏ vườn hoa
Sẽ nằm trong tim cho đến khi tôi về

Moments With You

Your funeral was yesterday. I watched it from afar. I liked the pictures of you over the year, flashing through the screen, but wished there were more. You looked so handsome.

You had told me that you probably would not have befriended me if we met when you were younger. Just because I was of a different race. I am glad we met later in your life when your outlook had changed. You opened up your heart to me. I treasure that.

Sing to the Lord a new song. Yes. As we grow, our songs change and grow with us.

I saw your son Steve for the first time. He mentioned me in the eulogy. Thank you for having included me in your family converstations.

I enjoyed learning more tidbits about you. didn’t know you liked looking like Clint Eastwood, paid off your mortgage early, and paid for cars with cash.

I liked the idea that God gives us enough for the moments.

I am glad God gave me moments with you.

Tony

I craned my neck to see the singer on stage. The crowd was enthusiastic to see the familiar face of a famous singer, singing in their native language, from the land they had just fled from. I walked around trying to find a good spot. Then I saw him. Tony. My English teacher. He was happy to see me. We watched the Khanh Ly concert together. He was a high school English teacher from Kalamazoo, Michigan. He volunteered his service to teach English to the Vietnamese refugees at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas that summer. I stayed after class to chat with him. We formed a bond. A friendship that endured the time, until he died three days ago. That would be forty-nine years of a special friendship between us.

Before he returned home to Michigan, he gave me a dollar bill and he wrote a sentiment on it. That is not a bill to be spent. I still have it. He and his wife came to Illinois to see me. I travelled to Michigan to visit with his family. He came to visit me while I was a college student. He lent me money when I needed it. I got married after college. He and his wife attended my wedding. I had children and moved a few times. Over the years, he always remembered to send birthday cards to me and my children. My family drove from Virginia to Michigan to visit him and his wife. My children called him Uncle Tony. For a long time, they didn’t know they were not related to him by blood. My second daughter stayed with Uncle Tony and Aunt Betty for a week one summer, just as a little girl would spend some time with her grandparents. She treasured the time she got to know them. 

The last time I heard from him was a letter he wrote after I sent him a picture of my new grandbaby. I am sad I didn’t get to see him at the end of his life. I got the news on Tuesday evening that he passed away on Monday, the same day I put his birthday card in the mailbox. On the one hand, I wish he held the card in his hand, had a wonderful birthday, and got to be one year older before leaving us for good. On the other hand, I believe he is now at peace. He knows when I think of him. That’s what gives me comfort. The faith I have that he knows he is loved. By many. I am glad I was a part of his life.