-----Original Message-----
From: sean macleod
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 1:20 AM
Subject: Final thoughts.

Ho Chi Minh mamma. It seems after a long adventure it is time to leave. I can't use the words "go home" of course, because we don't have one. I would like to take time to thank everyone for putting up with the constant barrage of e-mails I sent. Before leaving Toronto, I had no intentions of creating such an online journal. It just happened. You know when you see something and you just can't wait to tell someone. That's how this whole trip felt . So much to see, I needed to share so people could have a wisp of my experience. Often I wanted to say much more, but, out of respect for the limited space on people's hard drives I would cut it short. I am not a writer but a photographer and I really think that I have captured something special in my photo quest. I can hardly wait to share those pictures with as many people as possible. In fact, ! as I have mentioned to some people, I have imagined a book coming out of this. It is either pipe dreams or all of the spare time I have, but, with some stories to go with the photos, I think it could work. Meanwhile, I plan on putting painting on hold for a bit to concentrate on these pictures and maybe getting a job.
Viviane and I have learned an enormous amount about the places we have visited as well as about each other. Now at the risk of sounding all sentimental, people are really amazing out there. To be able to participate in and experience other cultures really puts life into some form of perspective. I am going to go in to even riskier waters by stating something fairly obvious. I will prolong the moral of the story with first telling the tale.
We just spent some time on the beach Viv and I. We had a routine. Lots of wonderful fruit and a Vietnamese coffee for breakfast. We slapped on some cream, spf 15 and hit the beach. We lay there in the sun with the other helio-heathens. (I made that word up) Fifty people a day would try to sell us lobsters or bracelets. Typical beach stuff really, sunny every day. Quite a charmed life we lived in the surf and sand wonderland. Everyday, this guy would come by and ask for money and I would give gladly. My relationship with beggars has been a difficult one on this trip. I would never give to children. This guy was maybe thirty years or so. He never said anything to me except on the last day I told him I was leaving and he said "thank you" and "goodbye". He was a victim of agent orange that the Americans had ! dropped. He had a birth defect of having no legs or arms. He ambulated around slowly with flipper like things that had one toe on each. I use this case as an example because, of course, I felt so bad for the guy, but mainly because of the extreme contrast in our lives. There are many others stories with various shades of gray. There I was with my life and him with his. The luck of the draw. We both did the best we could given our situations. Now, those that remember that this very real tale was meant to illustrate how very blessed we are to have so many opportunities and choices. Of course as a by-product we go into therapy more often, but that's life. Life is a box of chocolates, run Forest run !
The next chocolate I bite in to will be Swiss. We leave from Saigon tomorrow. It is truly exciting to have such an unknowable future. I see babies and debt. That is the way of life I think. We are eager to begin again and with a bit more luck all will go very well. Hey, thanks for listening. Sean.
posted by [d] at 02:10