Susan LaffertyFrom a young age, I heard about Jesus and His love. Sang songs about Him. Listened as my parents read Bible stories. Our family prayed often. I was loved and cared for.
And yet.
And yet I was lost. Fearful. Felt the darkness. Something wasn’t right. And I knew it. “Do not lie” seemed to compel me toward that very thing. Lying.
“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.
The lines were forming to board several Air Asia flights out of Penang. I asked the woman behind me if this was the line for Singapore. Yes. She was also going to Singapore. She asked which seat I was in. 18B. Her seat? 18A.
Once we boarded, I found out she was traveling to visit her brother and sister who are now Singaporean citizens. I was going there to overnight with our daughter before heading to the US.
In further conversation, we talked about the weather and she said, “I like cold weather.”
In this tropical country? “Where do you go for cold weather?”
“London,” she said and shared that her other sister had lived there until her sudden death from cancer the year before. I told her I was sad to hear of her loss.
