I thought I had rid myself of tears the day before we left the orphanage in Cambodia. We left Saturday August 29th. We spent the previous day loving on the kids. We gave each kid a picture of them with all of us that Friday. There were only a few dry eyes in the room by the end of it. A couple of the youngest boy managed not to cry. Instead they laughed at all of us as tears steamed down our faces (but they all cried Saturday).
Saturday morning I kept my composure pretty well. I finished packing and set aside a couple of my personal items to give to some of the kids. One was my watch. On the race your watch is a staple, but I felt lead to give mine away. I already knew who I wanted to have it.
Nab is a fourteen year old boy with one of the best smiles. He is the one who picks the fights. He tries to get away with things when he thinks others are not watching. And he craves attention. I knew all he really needed was someone to love him and make him feel loved.
He would give me bear hugs everyday, and I loved watching his big smile come across his face as he would greet us in the mornings. Nab was one of the first kids I remember meeting and I remember him looking at my watch with curiosity. He would sometimes sit beside me and start pressing every button he could find on the watch.
I knew the last day there that I was going to give it to him. He was the very reason I started crying Saturday. I grabbed my watch off the top of my pack and walked over to him and placed it in his hand. His eyes looked up at me with confusion as he pointed to himself questioning as to if it was for him (he does’t speak much english). I nodded my head yes, and he burst into tears.
My heart sank. It was just a small item. It didn’t mean anything to me, but to him it was important. His expression made it seem like he had never received a gift in his life. He grabbed me and hugged me, and as he cried, I cried.
One thing I have learned over the past months is that I don’t need much of anything to live life. I don’t need the fancy clothes. I don’t need a watch. I don’t need all the material crap I have…all I need is to give away the one thing that world needs, love. Sometimes loving somebody means giving up your watch. And sometimes loving somebody means holding each other and crying, and crying, and crying, and crying again…
