How we know Lan and other Stories

I should say a few words about how we know Lan.  Lan and her family were among the last people airlifted out as the Americans pulled out of Saigon.  Sponsored by a church in Red Wing MN, they arrived in the US over 35 years ago.  She and her husband worked two jobs each and put themselves through technical college.  

We met them in the early 1980’s when Jim and Lan both worked for the same company in Eden Praire.   Our families grew very close.  We often had picnics together, went camping (in the rain), etc.  They had met and spent time with Mom, Aunt Harriet, and Uncle Les.  They were our back-up childcare givers when Nick and Emily were little.  

But, once we moved to St. Cloud, our times together grew infrequent.  The last time we had seen Lan was for Emily’s high school graduation.  So Jim and I were extra happy to be able to spend time with her in Myanmar.  And, she hopes we tell others to come visit her there!

With the Monday Buddha -
 the day of the week on which Jim was born

As our time together wound down, Lan showed us one last Yangon pagoda.   

This one was decorated with images from the Jataka stories, a collection of some 500 moral tales that describe the reincarnations of Siddhartha before he achieved enlightenment as the Buddha.   Children in Myanmar grow up with these stories.  I can’t tell you any, but here are a few images -

 

Jataka images

Our flight to Bagan was early the next morning.   We bid each other an early goodnight, and a “until we see each other again.”