Happy Monday, DMV! It’s April 13.
Yesterday, my newfound community at the DMV’s largest and oldest Thai Buddhist temple celebrated the Thai new year, or Songkran. My family and I started going to this temple a little over a year ago because my daughter wanted to learn Thai language, music and dance. I spent most of this past weekend there for an outdoor dress rehearsal Saturday and the Songkran festival yesterday.
As our kids did their thing, the parents shared time together in the lovely spring sunshine. I’ve seen these families almost every weekend over the past year. We talk. We listen. We celebrate and commiserate. Our chats meander from kids and schools to sandwich-generation challenges and work.
I feel the weight of their woes, and they feel mine. Yet by sharing, we feel lighter. Our time at the temple, present with each other — “it fills my cup,” a friend told me. Indeed it does.
During a break in Saturday rehearsals, our kids sat near us on the lawn. While laughing and playing, they formed a line — one hugging another hugging another and another.
The Songkran festival yesterday was great. The weather was perfect. The Thai food stalls offered yummy eats. It felt like an enormous community picnic. The kids’ performances made my heart swell.
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(Paula Staudt)
Paula Staudt took this photo at 6:30 a.m. on March 21 on the Spa Creek Drawbridge in Annapolis, Maryland.
“I was on my way to watch my son's first 10K race … This photo is from the vantage point of the Annapolis Yacht Club looking towards Eastport,” Paula wrote in her submission.
“The water in Spa Creek was like glass that morning, and the darkness, impending sunrise and twinkling lights of Eastport made for a tranquil and mesmerizing photo.”
