Day 251: A Sea Turtle Spotting — James Makes Us Cry with Beatles Insight
Friday the 13th!
Awoke the best way possible: Whenever/however the hell we wanted to. This is hands down the best part of the trip. The days when we get up when we’re good and ready to get up. Nowhere to be, no school to scramble for, zero emails waiting for us. Middle of the week, super chill, as if it’s Christmas morning. Teddy worked out, I read the newspaper in bed, the kids drew. When we were damn good and ready, we had breakfast, wearing a mix of PJs and bathing suits. What time was it? Who knows!!
No question, this is what we’ll miss most.
The rest of the day was chill (Indonesia posts might get boring). We swam and then did school. We walked to a local beach restaurant and Teddy snorkeled after.
He saw a giant sea turtle! Said the snorkeling is “what you think snorkeling should be” — saying a lot since we snorkeled in Brazil and Mozambique to “meh” reactions all around. He called it “world class.” So we’ll come back and do it all together.
The sand on this part of Bali is black, which is freaky and beautiful. Almost zero pictures. That’s how chill we were today.
We came back to our villa/house and the kids painted and were in and out of the pool while Teddy and I did our own things – read, write. Heavenly!
Teddy has decided it’s time to learn to juggle, so I set him up with the Jim Bensfield How-To. He made some decent progress, much to the amusement of the kids (still hammering home that “practice” lesson).
What follows is a list of hilarious/cute things James did today, because for whatever reason, he did a string of notably hilarious/cute things today:
1/. He pronounced “certificate” as “sar-KISS-uh-fit.”
2./He has a knack for picking up on song lyrics and asking about them, when no one else is paying attention.
Example: When we were in Cambodia, our hotel played a Hotel Costes playlist on repeat every day, so we got to know the order very well. This one song played at least once every breakfast — it’s one I remember well from the Costes playlist circa 2004 but hadn’t really heard since. The song is “In the Black of the Night” and the refrain goes:
“Murder”
In the black of night
“Murder”
In the black of night
The first time it played, James goes, “Is this song about Virak?” [Virak = our guide in Cambodia]. We were SO confused…until we realized that he earnestly thought the “MURRR-duh” in the refrain was saying “VURRRR-ak.” Ha!
The song played every day for 6 days. And once it was even playing when Virak himself walked in the door of the hotel, like out of a movie. We call it the Virak Song and have listened to it a bunch since. James calls Cambodia “The Place with The Virak Song.”
Anyway, I meant to write that anecdote while we were in Cambodia but forgot. Today I was reminded to do so after James had yet another lyric stroke of brilliance. As I made pasta and the kids swam around 6 pm tonight, we were listening to a Beatles playlist on Spotify. A lesser known hit came on — “I’ll Follow the Sun” – which is so lovely. But none of us were really paying attention. Except James.
He was sitting on a stoop zoned out, wrapped up in a towel. We heard his little voice say, to no one in particular, “We’re following the sun.”
It’s true – our itinerary is following the sun, and he’s heard us say it so many times. The fact that he’s clearly listening — to us all these months and to the (surprisingly heartbreaking) song tonight — as we’re sitting in this gorgeous place at this meaningful point in our family’s life…made me cry.*
3/. Good thing he had a joke that he’d made up ready a few minutes later. This honestly made me laugh out loud:
James: What’s a horse’s favorite clothes?
Me: Horse shoes?
James: No. Neeeiigh-kid.
4./Finished the evening in a way I wish I could finish every evening: Watching James gleefully skip rope with his big floppy hair, totally naked (neigh-kid), big goofy smile on his face as the sun set and the full moon rose over the sea. In freakin Bali.
Gahh.
*I’ll Follow the Sun Lyrics
One day, you’ll look
To see I’ve gone
For tomorrow may rain, so
I’ll follow the sun
Someday, you’ll know
I was the one
But tomorrow may rain, so
I’ll follow the sun
And now the time has come
And so, my love, I must go
And though I lose a friend
In the end you will know
Oh-oh-oh
One day, you’ll find
That I have gone
But tomorrow may rain, so
I’ll follow the sun
Yeah, tomorrow may rain, so
I’ll follow the sun
And now the time has come
And so, my love, I must go
And though I lose a friend
In the end you will know
Oh-oh-oh
One day, you’ll find
That I have gone
For tomorrow may rain, so
I’ll follow the sun
