Thursday, June 21st

We were blue and down in the dumps after Hai left last Sunday. Our week together gave us all a chance to fill in the blanks that occur when you see each other infrequently. The days flew by in deep conversation, it was wonderful. Peter thrived, we were so happy to be together.

Hard to believe that 32 years have passed since Hai and his sister Lan came into our lifes. We picked them up at  Emmenbruecke, a refugee camp near Zurich, on December 29th 1979 . They had arrived in Switzerland a month before, believing they had landed on the moon. The world was cold and barren, a far cry from the lushness of  Indonesia where they had been interned after fleeing Vietnam.

Hai was 8 and Lan 14, the same age as Heidi. At first we communicated in sign language since they spoke only Vietnamese. We played a lot of games, laughed a lot. The first snow fell. Peter and Hai built a snowman on a hill behind our house which Hai turned into a woman by attaching two snowballs in strategic places. Peter and Hai laughed until tears ran down their cheeks.

We home schooled Lan and Hai to teach them basic German before enrolling them in school. All of us worked very hard on becoming a family. Our dog Chi-Mo, a Tibetan Terrier, adopted Hai defending him fiercely when she deemed necessary.

After two years Cham and Thanh, Lan and Hai's parents, also fled Vietnam and arrived in Switzerland with their youngest daughter Lan - Thi. The family was reunited. It was heart rending for us to see Lan and Hai go, but thankfully our bond has remained strong over the years. Lan and Hai will always will be a part of our family and we of theirs.

Yesterday we celebrated summer solstice at The Well, an outdoor restaurant in Cape Elizabeth, with Marie [ Peter's tart angel] and Lucian. It was a beautiful evening after a very hot and humid day. Paris, who works there again this summer, was our  very polished and welcoming waitress. Yes, we are proud grandparents!

Peter reminisced about some of the wild things he did when he was about 12 and believe me, they were wild. He jumped off the Mittlere Rheinbruecke in Basel, let himself be pulled down into whirlpools in the Rhine and then swam out once he reached bottom, stuff like that....

Peter was relaxed and happy. We all were. How good it is to be with people close to your heart.

We have received some very special packages the past few days as well as letters and cards. Thank you so much dear friends for that and the comments you continue to post. We are very grateful to you for being in touch in so many ways