February 15, 2015

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Today, I write from the French Bakery. Sitting on a little wooden cafe table outside, I’m enjoying a latte with my husband. People are walking past us along this busy street on Chang Clan Road.

John, a fellow resident of our condo building has walked by and he stopped to chat. Wiley and I invited him to join us. John is American; raised in Fairbanks, Alaska. But, he spent most of his life in Australia. Funny how the subject of religion can appear in a conversation without me bringing it up. John’s heritage is Swedish and is a man in his early sixties but could pass for forty-five with his full head of blonde hair and aqua blue eyes. John is always smiling and good natured. He claimed to have been raised Baptist, and at 12 years old, refused to attend church. His mother made a deal with him that if he would be baptized that he could stop attending. Done. John was baptized and never returned to church. He told us if he is any religion at all, that it would be the “kind and gentle” life of Buddhism. He laughed as he thought that maybe he’d be reincarnated in his next life as a “leaf or a bug”!

I suggested to John, “Maybe that act of baptism has “stuck” with you, and just maybe you’ll decide to turn back!” He laughed as he said that his plan is to be cremated and his ashes poured over a sacred mountain here in Thailand where he would reside next to an ancient tomb of a past king, and people would be charged admission to come and visit.

Hmmm… time will tell.