The Twin’s Reunion

Dao came home from his first day at summer camp yesterday and was thrilled when May opened the door for him. Since the weather was so beautiful (sunny and breezy), Linh and I took the kids to the playground. The horrendous memory of last year incident has completely gone. Dao and May are now bigger and they much more skillful at climbing and sliding. Fifteen minutes went by and lil Dan got hungry so Linh brought him back home while I stayed at the playground to look after the twin. We had the whole playground to ourselves. Watching the two kids played together made me want to freeze the time and let this precious moment last forever. I was also getting a bit of nostalgia.

We didn’t head back home until 8 something. Then we set up an indoor picnic table for the kids and served them hu tieu My Tho, one of my favorite noodle soups, Linh had prepared. Yes, I had two bowls. Speaking of food, Linh made us canh kho qua (bitter gourd soup) and mam chung (Vietnamese meatloaf) in addition to the noodle soup. We will be all set for the rest of the week.

We were ecstatic to have Linh and May spending a few days with us. The two kids who shared nothing in common except their birthday could hang out together. Despite the drastic changes in personality, Dao and May can still play together for most of the time. One thing hasn’t changed is that Dao is still very attracted to May and May is still giving him a cold treatment. For instance, Dao tried to rest his head on May’s shoulder, but she pushed him away. Dao has yet to learn about rejection. Whenever he got frustrated, he took it out on me.

Linh and May arrived last Thursday and rested for the entire day because they took a red-eye flight. On Friday the weather reached above 90 degrees. They went out to DC and we went to Dao’s summer camp open house. Then we headed straight home afterward to stay cool. So the kids stayed at the house for the rest of the evening. On Saturday, May went to get her haircut and we went to VietFest at George Mason. Again, the heat was so hot that we got tired after just an hour or two outside. Again the kids on played together for a bit in the evening. On Sunday, we all went to an indoor swimming pool and they had a blast. Even lil Dan loved the water. He kicked his feet and slapped his hands in the water non-stop.

Five days went by so quick even though we didn’t get to do much. Still I am glad that the two family could spend some time together. Yes, Dao will come home from school today to find May gone. I could already see the sadness in his face and the disappoint in his voice asking, “May dau roi?”

We’re very grateful that Linh and May had made an effort to come to us all the way from the west coast. That alone makes our friendship invaluable. Thank you for the wonderful time and memories. Let’s do it again next year.