Letting
go of a hand, a bump in the road, a splash through a puddle, an abrupt left
turn, and it was over. The trip that seemed to have lasted a lifetime ended in
an instant.
Waking up was like every other day.
My alarm went off at 5:45. I got up, took a shower, brushed my teeth, ate
breakfast, and sat on our 45 minute tuk tuk ride to the orphanage. Clambering
out of our tuk tuks we saw the stage set up for the kid’s performance
accompanied by blaring music. I sat in a chair with Srey Mao and the blaring
died down and on came a love song. Srey Mao and I start dancing, and eventually
everyone else starts to join us. It was bittersweet. I was with the perfect
people dancing to the perfect music, but that joy was tainted, tainted with the
fact that we were leaving. The song came to a close; there was no more time
left to dwell on it.
We walked over to the school, and I
taught class 1 and class 3. The kids gave us all wishing letters.
I wish you get happiness
I wish you get safe
I wish you have good journey
I wish you get more benefit
I wish you success in your study
and career
This
just made me realize that once again we were leaving.
We came back to CPO and it was time
to watch the kids perform. Expecting to see traditional dancing, I was shocked
when Lao, Roat, and Hoeun came out in tight jeans and bright green t-shirts and
started doing hip hop. They were perfectly in sync along with all of the
traditional dancers, leaving a smile on my face. But now the pressure was on.
Evan and I were putting our choreographing skills to the test. Practicing for a
whole ½ hour we expected nothing less than perfection; we weren’t disappointed.
The crowd went wild for Troy, who was featured front and center, Karlina who
had the break it down “down”, and EvEv who brought it home with her superb
freestylin’. And our perfect performance of “Boyfriend” was the cherry on top.
Dancing our hearts out to every song from the 2000’s and feeding the kids fried
chicken, which made them smile head to toe, made me forget what was going to
happen in a few short hours. But then it did. 20 minutes. That was the amount
of time I had left with the kids, and I was doing the dishes. A knot filled my
stomach, but there still weren’t any tears. I walked out of the office and into
the back. There I stood in a pack of crying people. The first person I focused
on was Srey Mao who buried her face into my chest sobbing. That was when it finally
hit me. We were leaving, there were no more “See you tomorrows.” The rest of
the night was a blur and then all the sudden we were leaving. We sat in the tuk
tuks and started to motor our way down the street. Roat, Hoeun, and Lao chased
us down the street. but eventually Hoeun’s fingers slipped out of my hand. We
hit a bump in the road, splashed through a puddle, took an abrupt left turn,
and it was over.
I left behind 12 brothers and 18
sisters. I left behind 30 unbreakable bonds. Sitting in the tuk tuk beside me
holding my hands were 4 more. One to my left, one to my right, and two right in
front of me. These were the people who I had spent every waking moment of the
last 3 weeks with. They had seen my highs and lows. They reminded me of what
true friendship is. They are the people who I will be reliving this experience
with, them and 12 others scattered in surrounding tuk tuks. Everything I
thought I would be leaving in Cambodia I am bringing back with them. They are
the ones who understand the love, joy, and passion this trip brought.
