White People Say the Darndest Things

My dad asked me yesterday evening, over a bowl of melted Velveeta and Rotel tomatoes, why I haven’t written any new blogs lately, and I told him it’s because I’ve been sitting in my underwear for the past three months, searching for jobs since returning to America, and I haven’t found the inspiration. But this morning I realized that isn’t entirely true. I was inspired on Christmas Eve by the friend of a family friend – an ex-military, Texas good ol' boy – as we stood sipping merlot around a kitchen island spread with finger foods of assorted textures and colors. He was asking Sherry and me about Japan, from which we had returned only two days prior, and this led to discussing general travel throughout Asia, which led to discussing our honeymoon in Thailand, which led to the question, directed at Sherry, “Are you Thai?” (Following the question, of course, “Are you Japanese?"), and to both Sherry said, “No, I’m Cambodian.” “Did you visit Cambodia while you were in Japan?” he asked. And we had, so we answered, “Yes.” And then I talked about how it was Sherry’s first time to Cambodia, and she confirmed and explained how she was born in a refuge camp in Thailand as her family was escaping genocide in Cambodia, at which point the ex-military, Texas good ol' boy’s son, who was also standing around the kitchen island sipping merlot, said “The Killing Fields is my favorite movie,” which is a strange thing to say, and we said “Really?” with quizzical expressions on our faces. And then the ex-military, Texas good ol' boy said something even stranger. He smiled and reminisced with a chuckle, “I bombed Cambodia.” And my Cambodian wife and I smiled.