Jordan has always been drawn to the older crowd. She has weekly dinners with her Grandma... often times the table is filled with Gram’s octogenarian friends as well. Last night she came home around 10pm and declared she was the youngest one at the “dinner party” by sixty years!!! It should also be noted she was one of the first to leave! 

Jordie makes us proud for all sorts of reasons. Any of you who truly know the Baker family dynamic also knows she drives us crazy with her stubbornness and “I’ll do things my way” attitude as well! Occasionally she has to backtrack... sometimes in grand fashion... but mostly she awes us. 

Today is an awe day; it’s the last day with her current company. Jordie entered Corporate America just shy of 3 years ago when she was hired for an HR position with a well known and respected global company headquartered here in KC. A year later... almost to the day... she was offered an opportunity with her current company which gave her much more responsibility and a nuthin-to-sneeze at pay raise. She also got her own cushy office with a real door... a rarity in today’s open-concept bullpen type work environments! But about a month ago... a different company came knocking on that door... thanks to her LinkedIn presence. It was several layers of interviews, some in person, others over the phone. I think there was a video call or two in the mix as well. After each round she’d text our family-text with, “Nailed it,” or “I’ve got this!” or sometimes just a long line of fingers-crossed emojis... revealing just her tiniest vulnerability.

They hired her. And they are giving her even more responsibility. And a mentor. And an opportunity for international travel. Oh... and a big fat raise which gets her a gorgeous new apartment that is more like a resort! 

So even though this post is (unabashedly) bragging on my oldest old-soul child... it’s also for any parents out there like me. I was a non-conformist... in regards to how Jordie was doing things. I bought into the bullshit our school district and society was selling us which was basically “If you want your child to be successful in life you better send them to a traditional four-year college.” Period. And we tried. First K-State. Then JCCC. She did a year at Fort Hays State. She hated all of it, did not do well, and all the time I was still insisting that this was the route she HAD to go. It... I... should have broke her. But in true Jordie fashion... she showed us. She got that first job and rocked it... gaining some of her confidence  back along the way. The second job was more of the same... operative word “more”. And Monday... after a quick girl’s-weekend in Denver... she starts anew once again. At each of these places... I’ll note... Jordie continued working toward her degree but this time on their dime. 

Making a living, getting an education, and taking-on no debt. My mom, Jordie’s other Gammie, used to say... “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” I’m glad one of us was listening. Yep... I’m in awe.

 Love you, Jordie girl... you make this mama so proud and I learn from you almost every day!

Long Live the King

Thailand’s beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej died last October and has been lying in state at the Grand Palace ever since. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Thais have paid their final respects to the King during this 12 month mourning period. This week was the start of a lavish, 5-day… $90,000,000 (!!!)… funeral, in Bangkok, which will be attended by Heads of State, Royalty from around the world, and… most importantly… thousands upon thousands of Thai people from around the country. I type these words mere hours before the King is cremated on Thursday, at 10pm, Bangkok time in a newly completed royal crematorium on the palace grounds.

 King Rama IX, as he is also known, was this country’s most revered King. We’ve been fortunate enough to visit Thailand 3 times (more for Mike) since the King’s passing and am struck every time by the overwhelming sorrow of the Thai people. Everywhere… from the moment you step off the plane into the Suvarnabhumi Airport… you are made aware of the King’s passing with huge posters, billboards, and yes… kitschy mementos in the gifts shops… of the late King, always draped in black silk with an abundance of fresh flowers… usually yellow. King Bhumibol was born on a Monday… a day the Thais associate with the color yellow. Every hotel we’ve stayed at in Thailand, during this year of mourning, has had a book near their picture of the King for guests to leave their condolences to the Thai people. It really personalizes their loss for those of us not from Thailand.

The Thai people often referred to the King as “father”, because he is considered the father of all Thais, and his passing has left a huge void. Many even considered the King, whose seven-decade rule made him the world’s longest serving monarch, to be a demigod. Most of the year, but this week in particular, Thais, expats, and visitors have all been encouraged to wear black out of respect for the King and his royal family.  

Mike and I will be flying into Bangkok early Saturday morning… just as the year of mourning comes to an end… and feel fortunate that we will be able to see the fantastic structures built for this historical occasion. I also feel lucky to be missing out on the worst of the crowds!

Thailand steals your heart… it really does. That’s one of the reasons we go back so often… the people, their culture, the sites, the food… it’s all sensational. So it’s for those reasons, and many more, why I can’t help but have a heavy heart this week for a nation who is saying goodbye to their beloved King.

Thrng phra ceriy!

Moon Cakes, Moon Cakes...

… everybody get your moon cakes!

The Mid-Autumn Festival is almost here. It’s one of the most important holidays in China. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar… the night of the full moon… between early September and October. This year it falls on October 4^th.  The Festival is a day for friends and family to gather together, offer thanks to the fall harvest, and pray for longevity and good fortune. It’s sort of like our Thanksgiving… but with moon cakes instead of pumpkin pie!

There are many mythical tales of it’s origins… which dates more 3000 years ago. But the most common told, and my personal favorite, is this one:

It is said that in ancient times, ten suns existed and the extreme heat made people's lives very difficult. It was the hero Hou Yi, who, owing to his great strength, shot down nine of the ten suns. On hearing of this amazing feat and the hero who performed it, people came from far and wide to learn from him. Peng Meng was among these people. Later, Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind-hearted woman named Chang E and lived a happy life.

One day, Hou Yi came upon Wangmu (the queen of heaven) on the way to meet his old friend. Wangmu presented him an elixir which, if took, would cause him to ascend immediately to heaven and become a god/goddess. Instead of drinking the potion himself, Hou Yi took it home and presented it to Chang E to keep. Unfortunately, Peng Meng secretly saw Hou Yi give the potion to his wife and three days later, while Hou Yi was out hunting, Peng Meng rushed into the backyard and demanded that Chang E hand over the elixir. Knowing that she could not win, she took out the elixir and swallowed it immediately. The moment she drank it, she flew out of the window and up into the sky. Chang E's great love for her husband drew her towards the Moon, which is the nearest place to the earth on the heaven.

On realizing what happened to his wife, Hou Yi was so grieved that he shouted Chang E’s name to the sky. He was amazed to see a figure which looked just like his wife appeared in the Moon. He took the food liked by Chang E to an altar and offered it as a sacrifice for her. After hearing that Chang E became a goddess, folk people also offered sacrifices to Chang E to pray for peace and good luck. Since then, the custom of sacrificing to the moon has been spread among the folklore.

Coinciding with the Festival is China’s Golden Week. Unlike most of us, in other parts of the world, the Chinese people do not generally get to choose their vacation days. Instead… China has two separate week-long holidays called Golden Week. Factories and most business close down for the entire week. This is when most Chinese people migrate back to their hometowns to spend time with their family.

The first Golden Week is in late January, or early February, and is commonly known as Chinese New Year. The second is called National Day and falls in late September or early October… the Autumn-Festival usually falls around, if not within, this same week.

So there’s pretty big stuff happenin in The Jing this week. Big, beautiful red lanterns are going up everywhere and Mike seems to come home with a new box of Moon Cakes every night. They look so pretty and I want to like them so badly but… I’ve yet to take a bite of one and not have to spit it into a napkin! So in the spirit of re-gifting… I will be passing these beauties on to our Ayi. She will be thrilled with them… and me… and have a lovely gift to bring home to her family next week!

As for me and Mikey… we’re heading to Thailand for Golden Week where we too will gaze at the full moon with our friends Tina and Matt. We will give thanks for a bountiful harvest and pray for longevity and good fortune.

But instead of eating moon cakes… we’ll be swilling booze.

Dear Mikey,

Twenty-five years ago today, minutes before we were to be married, you snuck into the back room of the church; you wanted to be alone with me, for a few minutes, before sharing our big day with family and friends. I remember those moments like it was yesterday. I started to tear up I hollered at you; my make-up was perfect! But we did hold on to each other, for what seemed like and eternity, before you finally said… “Let’s do this!”

Little did I know then… what all that would entail! We had one glorious year together, getting the kinks worked out, before finding out we were pregnant! Although we never got to meet and wrap our arms around our little bundle (you affectionately call Vincenzo Fred)… we continue to love him from afar and know we will meet someday. God quickly blessed us with another pregnancy and “almost” nine months later Jordie came into our lives; we were never the same. Two and one-half years later, Chunk-O-Love Nicky joined us and our family of four was complete.

The next ten years are a blur of your work, my work, your travel, my weekly business dinners, two kids in rarely the same school at the same time, soccer, girl scouts, softball, baseball, boy scouts… you remember the chaos! It was tough… like it is on all young families. We hit some bumps along the way… but each time we dealt with them head on and came out stronger than before. We held each other up, more times than we’d like to remember, when loss and grief came knocking at our door. Our kids were in three different schools, in three different states, in three different years, and Team Baker grew stronger… not weaker. We taught Jordan and Nicholas more about perseverance, because of our own challenges, then, hopefully, they’ll ever have to know in their entire grown-up lives. 

Finally, in their teenage years, we were able to start carving more “us time” into our lives. I’ve always appreciated that as hard as you work, and especially as much as you travelled, that you came home on the weekends and gave us your best version of yourself… even when you were probably feeling your worst. Every Saturday morning, instead of sleeping in, you and I would get up and go to the City Market, or out to breakfast, or just take a drive either in the country… to honor your roots, or down to the city… to honor mine. It never really mattered what we did or where we went… it was always about reconnecting, in a positive way, after another week apart. You kept us strong.

We managed to get both kids graduated from high school… with not a single encounter with an Overland Park police officer… not even a traffic ticket (!)… and away they went, tip-toeing into their own unique versions of adulting, while WE found ourselves empty nesters!!! I think it’s fair to say both of our kids are… well yes… appalled at how well we’ve adjusted! But they also (secretly) love the fact that we are so independent, not only of them, but of each other as well. I truly think that is our secret, Mike… that we don’t have to be together. We both know how to fill up our own lives… but we still choose to be together as much as we can.

And now we live in China... just the two of us. Wow… you’re still putting our marriage to the test after all these years! And like other times in our marriage, you had to do a little coaxing (let’s vacation in the middle-of-nowhere Minnesota in a cabin for a week with two babies), a lot of selling (“I don’t care if he is just 16, a boy’s first shot should be on Bourbon Street with his dad!”), and a tiny bit of bribing (You won’t have to cook, or clean, or drive…), but because of my blind, yet well earned, faith in you… of course I got on that plane. 

If, twenty-five years ago in the back room of that church, I’d have had a glimpse into the world we were stepping into… would I have walked down that aisle toward you, or, run out the back door?

Neither.

Nope… I would have tucked that beaded train up between my legs, wrapped it around my neck, knocked over a few bridesmaids, tossed my bouquet to the crowd as I sprinted past, and as I jumped into your arms,… probably knocking us both to the ground… I’d be yelling, “Hell yeah… let’s DO this!!!”

I love you so very, very much, Mikey and am so happy that, after twenty-five years, we're still holding on to each other!

Bunny