What magic is it that happens when you combine lemon grass, lime, cilantro, shallot, fiery green chili, fish sauce, garlic, and blend to a paste?  That aromatic green paste then simmered with coconut milk, chicken, and vegetables yields a dish that hits all the senses while simultaneously taking me back to Thailand and the first curry I'd ever had prepared in its native land.

That delicious green concoction becomes something even greater when it is paired with a fair headed beauty that shares a love of life, travel, and all the magic it involves.  It is a wondrous thing when two people come together and conversation flows like a river, meandering one way then another, no predetermined course before it.  When that connection trumps sleep and the conversation ticks forward towards the rising sun and can't yet be halted even for sleep.  When it then plows on through a mid morning bloody mary with gluten free salmon benedict and a lamb hash punctuated by the silliness that comes from pulling an all nighter in middle age.  The synapses are firing more slowly and we need to slow down.  The heat is heavy and there is only one real solution, we must break into a rooftop pool for a swim and a beverage.  Once accomplished, one more thing, oysters and wine.  Some twenty seven hours later a kiss goodnight.  It is a gorgeous world we inhabit.

Headed back to Missouri tomorrow for a quick trip.  My brother has spent the weekend working through my parents house.  On Monday we will do a final walk through together.  I know that we are saying goodbye, but I can't find the word to describe the emotion it congers.  Grief is present, of course, but there is more.  To know that you will never again see the collection of things that were animated by those that gave you life and the support to thrive in the world is difficult.  The process punctuates the loss and simultaneously fills me with gratitude for the sheer luck that gave me the parents I know and love.