Susan Lafferty“Is your arm hurting?” she asks. Yes. The broken bone near my shoulder is healing. Slowly.
It’s 2015 and Manga is prepping me for physical therapy at a hospital in Malaysia. “Be happy!” she says. “Think positive thoughts. Then you will not be hurting.”
I smile. She’s friendly. Gregarious. Her speech and ways and dress make me feel at home.
South Asian home.
Several years ago we attend a conference at the beach. In Thailand. One morning I’m out for a walk as the sun rises.
I stop and gaze at the ocean. The waves roll gently. In and out. Steady.
I’m in the middle of fog and forgetfulness. A strange season of life. Change. Reminders that I’m aging.
Inside and out, I don’t feel like myself.
Hot sun, blue sky. The ocean waves were high and constant at Kuta Beach in Bali that summer of my sophomore year in college.
It was a familiar place. Site of many family vacations. But no longer the empty beach of my childhood.
Tourists flocked there from all over the world. And hotels lined the ocean.
