My Ikigai

/Ikigai/ (n) is a Japanese term that is defined as the thing that gets you up in the morning. Every day we wake up at 5:45. There are few things that can get me out of bed this early in the morning. The kids are one of those things. It usually takes me 10 minutes to fully wake up, and another 5 to get up. But here the second my alarm goes off I am ready to face the day. Just thinking about them inspires me. They are what get me up in the morning; they are my Ikigai.

These past few weeks have gone by in a blur, and suddenly we only have 4 days left. I have been trying to savor every day. To think Friday is the last day we have with the kids makes me want to savor every moment even more.

Saturday I went to the market. The market was full of different colors, products and smells. We bought ingredients for a fish soup; for some weird reason watching the lady at the market descale and cut the heads off of fish fascinated me. That is part of what I love so much about visiting other countries the way they operate is so unique. Instead of buying fish in a nice sealed Styrofoam package, you buy them alive and have the killed and cleaned right in front of you. After the market we went to CPO and we just got to hang out with the kids. Being able to spend an entire day with the kids made the tight bond tighter. I was able to meet and hang out with different kids. I read, played volleyball, made bracelets, gave baths, etc… It was a jam packed day full of different activities. Seeing the kids eat their soup was another gift. They all said it was the best food they had ever had. It only cost $35 dollars to feed 30 people! That opened my eyes just a little more, and reminded me that I would never trade any of my experiences small or large, good or bad, for the world.

Throughout this trip I have realized that I remember the little moments. To give a bracelet and see a little kid’s face light up with joy is memorable. To see the joy that the kids in the slums get from a simple wave and saying “Sua s’rei” is memorable. The shrieks and laughs the kids give when you are giving them bath stay with you, and then there are the simple moments weaved within the little moments. The moments when you see Srey Mei clamber her way up onto the stage with no help from anyone. The moments where I am sitting on the stage with Srey Mao in my lap coloring, reading, or sometimes just sitting. Everything else seems to fade with the kids and it’s just me and them, them and I, all sharing one love.