Men I love

I've been too busy physically, mentally and emotionally to write. I did write a couple of posts but there were just some unfinished posts because my train of thoughts just got lost since I didn't finish them in one sitting.

Here in NYC, I've been blessed with wonderful female friends- they are fun, intelligent and beautiful. But in college, I had a lot of male friends that I hanged out a lot. Sometimes, I would go to an ice hockey game with a group of male friends and I was an only girl in the group. It's such a different experience hanging out with a bunch of girls only and a bunch of guys only- activities we do, things we talk about are all so different. But I enjoy both.

I do miss male company though. So I have been thinking about those men I love in my life.

My father

He is my hero, a role model. He's a hard working, kind, generous, intelligent but very stubborn like me :) He inspires me in so many ways. He came from a poor family in a village in the middle of Myanmar. But passing all the obstacles, he made himself to an engineering school and now he's a Chief Engineer in Myanma Timber Enterprise. All his family and friends still remain in village and not formally educated. He's looking out for the whole family, his siblings' families, and most close relatives in the village. He's so responsible and dependable. Myanmar is a country with very few opportunities. One has to be not only extremely hardworking, intelligent and innovative but also has to be extremely lucky to reach to a very top.

Greatest thing about him for me is that he never took me anything less because I am a girl since I was born. He wanted a daughter before I was even born while most of his peer male friends only wanted sons because they think boys are better. But the same time, he never tried to make me like a boy. He always loves me as who I am. He taught me how to dance, how to ride a bike, how to play golf, how to drive a car ( although we fought like crazy then). He never treats me differently from my brother. That is something rare in our culture - for a daughter to be treated equally with a son.

Time goes by and now I'm fully grown up. I am still hoping that he still loves me as who I am. There are still parts of me he does not seem to fully understand so I do not know. He now blames that it is because I came to the U.S. It is not true. I think sometimes it's just hard for him to let go of the little girl he used to know better, well that's what he thinks. It's just that he can't keep me in his arms and tell me exactly what to do.

Anyways, for me, I know him so well and I love him no matter what.

My brother

He is only two years younger than me. He's a medical doctor and very talented in music- he plays Burmese harp, piano, guitar and a little bit of violin. So we grew up pretty much the same time. I loved him and hated him the same time when I was a kid. I thought I wouldn't have to share everything if I was an only child. Yes, I was a very greedy kid. But after we both passed our unstable adolescent stages, we became very close. We understand each other so well and are great friends. My parents were worried so much about him in his teens but I assured them that it'd be fine. I was the one reaching out to him because I understood more about what he went through than my parents did.

He is so different from me in so many ways. But interestingly, we both respect each other strengths and support each other weaknesses. When we were kids, I was the one who made him to go outside the house and seek adventures. I again learned from him to think a little more before doing things impulsively. I have always been blindly bold and he's always been about seeking security and balance in life with his own thinking. My motto is "just do it" and his is more about comfort, security and avoiding all unnecessary troubles.

I was worried about him being too comfortable and not trying to grow up as he has lived with my parents the whole life. But he did leave family and went to this remote place where he lived really a hard life in the border of Burma and Bangladesh. He is a medical doctor so he was there working with a French NGO for a nutrition project for those malnutrition kids in the region. He learned a great deal from the experience and he's been exploring a lot more and reading a lot more after that. Now I saw him when I went home last two months ago. He's really grown up intellectually, not only that he's very open-minded too. That was my main concern because he has lived in such a close country where exposure to the rest of the world is so little. We had so many great conversations - our thoughts about politics, culture, people back home, family, love and other personal matters.

He is only one in my family who knows me most and still loves me as who I am. I love him so much :)

My Best Friend, RT

I have mentioned about him a lot. It's been over six years since I first met him. The bond between us is very rare. I think that is what true love and friendship is about. We are not related by blood. Quite contrary, we grew up in very different cultures and backgrounds. He grew up in Brazil- which I think is nothing like how I grew up.
I don't exactly know what brought us together to became such great friends. There has been nothing I couldn't tell him or I feel reluctant to share about. Same with him too. I know all his dark and bright sides. Still we love each other. We can talk about ANYTHING.

Now also we live in different parts of the world. So strange....but every time we talk, it's always the same. He can put up with all my little none senses. But last time, he told me "every time I talk with you, I feel like I lose a testicle, you treat me like your gay best friend'' :D I guess he gets all the worst situations of being my friend.

The best part of our friendship is that we can always make each other laugh. So RT really knows me so well inside out. I love him a lot :)