-^-for posterity-^-

last night i had a birthday party for me. that’s a partial lie. my mother helped buy the food.

me and mom finally had a day to spend together. i finally was able to sit next to her in the car and listen to her wisdom, glean from her experience. it was wonderful.

well, until she took me to costco.

costco, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is like a sam’s club. one must pay for a membership ($35, but you can share with people and you get a percent of your purchases back at the end of the year), walk into the giant warehouse pushing an obese cart and select food in bulk that is placed on pallets.

i was in charge of the cart. this was my birthday. i turned 24.

mom knew exactly what she wanted and walked off in the direction of the food. i stood near the door and watched a video about a new hot tub that you could buy that only weighed 75 pounds and was for less than $2000. you could put it in your bedroom, your lawn or probably even in the back of a pick-up truck. then there were televisions off to the side. they were huge. there were digital cameras. there was a sign that advertised buying new tires for your car while you waited. there were pimple-faced children selling hotdogs and pizza to fat people. there were piles and piles of shirts and pants. you could buy party trays of sushi. you could buy a 5 pack of ketchup. you could buy 500 plastic forks (we did). i decided that i could live in that warehouse for at least a year and a half and do so in great comfort.

i walked around and mom put up with me which was nice of her. i starred and almost had a little kid puke on me.

we left and drove home and prepared for the party. i went and got a new drivers license because it was my birthday. that and it was expiring the next day.

i stood behind some of the slowest people in the world who couldn’t answer questions about their current address and who couldn’t actually sign a piece of paper while staying within the lines. i had to wait an hour and people had picture after picture taken because they didn’t think they looked good enough or were disappointed at the quality of the picture or what not. it was a mess.

then there was a party and we stood around and talked about vietnam’s current cultural, economic and political state. it was a wonderful conversation and, the more i talk about vietnam to people over here, the more i understand about the place. i think it would be possible for me to return home and not take the time to really compare vietnam with my home. that transition would have been easier, but not as fruitful.

my head swims, but i smile.