============================================================== To reach ALL SJD members, please send to sjd@satjadham.net ... Do NOT include any other addresses when sending to the list... Include as LITTLE of the original messages as possible........ Message sent by: LanXang Siengkhene *** Announcement: *** Please register for SatJaDham Fifth Annual conference at the website http://www.satjadham.org/sjd5sd/ ============================================================== Before I go on to another topic, I would like to talk about my uncle family to some extent. There were 5 people altogether in the family. Three of them had the same nickname: Deng. Starting with the eldest one, they were Deng Yai; then Nang Deng and Deng Noy. Wonder what the three siblings called themselves. It must be so confusing if you were to look for someone with the name of Deng in their family. Anyway, they were all good people like their parents. Uncle Kinnavong, my dad's only brother, and Aunt Matsa (fish) took great care of their kids. As I remember, I never heard them swear even once. No wonder that they did well in life. My mom told me that aunt Matsa was not his first wife. He used to get married once but, unfortunately, his wife eloped with her boyfriend the very night they wed. Maybe, the woman was forced to get married by her parents for, to me, uncle Kinnavong was the nicest man I had ever met. He had a better luck when his parents arranged to have him married aunt Matsa, a distant relative from Sakon Nakorn. I was told that my family lived on both sides of the Mekong River. First, they lived in Mahaxay. Then, the Siamese after the defeat of Chao Anou came and relocated them to Nakhon Phanom and Sakon Nakorn. Some of them went back to Mahaxay and began to have a last name "Saycocie" when the French enforced the Lao to have one. I am proud to tell you that they remain faithful to one another until old age, and likely until death do them apart. Thakek, in general, was a quiet town. Then, out of nowhere, the canon sound was heard around the town. I was told that the Pathet Lao force was making a move. News of casualties was spreading. This happened in coincidence with the heavy bombing of the U.S. in both North Vietnam and the Pathet Lao area. It was strange that I didn't see any dead bodies during that incident. Still, when we drove out of the town, I was told that the very spot I passed by was the battlefield and not a few soldiers were buried at that very spot. In fact, I was updated every day by the news received through the wire telegraph at the post office. At that time, it was a radio war news, not a television war news like today. I remember that I first saw the television for the first time in 1970 - the year the Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Of course, it was in black and white. As I remember, the whole town had only 2 or 3 television sets. The one I watched the landing was in front of the market. Of course, it was exciting to witness that. We, Lao, used to compare a girl with the spotlessly beautiful face as a moon. What a shock to see that the moon was full of big holes. Wonder if any girls wanted to have a face like a real moon. (to be continued) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/ _ ***************************************************************** Visit SatJaDham Homepage at: http://www.satjadham.org (or .net) *****************************************************************