Roy

Today we had a little bit of amazing.

I called Roy, a friend's delivery guy, to see if he could move some furniture for me. I had two cabinets to pick up at condos of people that were leaving Singapore. Roy seemed a bit confused. He wanted to know how I got his number and was a bit challenging to communicate with. Whatever. Accents on the phone are tough. The only thing that left me wondering was when I asked how much he charged and he said, "I've never done this job. You pay me what you want."

Roy showed up at the first condo all right; they called to confirm.

Roy showed up at the second condo, but my friend texted to say he seemed a bit flustered.

Roy showed up at our house.

His name is Myo Min Kyaw and he just got that phone number a few days ago. He's a foreign worker from Burma who got a random call in the middle of the day on the jobsite from a crazy expat woman calling him Roy and telling him she needed him to pick up furniture for her. He borrowed a lorry, drove all over town for probably the first time, and with a big grin delivered my items. 

The good news is that he seemed happy for the work and understanding of my embarrassment. He even took away our rusted out BBQ to sell for parts. "Roy" was honestly one of the nicest strangers I've ever met. We handed him a Coke, promised him we'd pass on his number, and shook our heads. 

Dreams

We did not bring Grampa home to stay. Grampa's eye-sight was too far gone for a rowdy four-year-old. Fetch would have been tragic, and he seemed a wee cranky. But, we did have a hilarious conversation with the dog adoption lady.

"What kind of dog are you looking for?"

"Well, we're not very picky. We just want to have a good dog. But it would be nice if it didn't bark. Or jump or lick. Or chew on anything. And we couldn't handle a dog that stunk or drooled. I'm not sure we really want a dog with a lot of energy, but we would like to take a dog on walks. Maybe a dog that likes to follow our son around? But isn't too needy? A friendly dog that likes to snuggle...but not a dog that will get on the furniture or anything..." It went on and on. She's a wonderful woman with a sense of humor, so she laughed very hard. 

While we wait for our mythical dog, we dream about art with inspiration from Peter Brown. This talented artist and writer came to school this week to work with lucky students, and I got to sit in on a quick and entertaining session of his. Amazing stuff!

Staying

Naming things is fun. Right now, it is our number one family activity. We're on a tentative dog hunt, and we've recently met an elderly little fellow that has no name and no home, and we're thinking of inviting him to stay a while to see if we can all make it work. As people that have deliberately dropped out of nearly every commitment possible except our jobs and evening dinner, acquiring any sort of obligation is completely whack-a-doodle. But the list is adorable. I'm a fan for real-people names: Brad, Mo, Gordon, Johnny Cash. P's are always a little exotic with a nod to former lives: Darko, Pivo, Tsunami. And Gus's, well Gus's are ridiculous: Doctor Donut, Po, Microwave, Doctor Microwave, Doctor Po, Miss Pearly (that's for you, KB!), and Grampa. The last one makes us laugh so hard, it might just win. This potential canine friend arrives as we re-sign our lease. This is significant because it is the first time in 24 years that I will have lived somewhere beyond 24 months. My adult life has no idea what that feels like. Today at sacred dinner time, P said earnestly, as if we were signing up to climb Everest or marathon across the Sahara, "I really hope we make it." I do too. For the first time ever, I don't want to pack up and find new digs. I'm voluntarily staying. This means something.

Maybe what will help us plant ourselves is something to name. Our strange little feat of strength is digging into community and getting a little dog hair in our tidy, transient lives. So, we're looking at happy-eyed orphans and wondering if they need to stay too. 

Doctor Donut (or Grampa?) and his two teeth.