Thursday night was
the first night I stepped on Soi
Easy.
I had several emotions running through my spirit, but the
most prominent ones were excitement and anticipation. I knew I could walk half
way down Soi Easy that night and I was going to make it count. I was determined
to not let what had happened over the previous couple days to be in vain. I was
determined to find my girl.
As my team, still composed of Lindsey, Melissa and myself,
began to walk down Soi Easy, my excitement and anticipation quickly morphed
into frustration and defeat. There were no girls…all men. My stomach was in
knots. I felt sick. I knew I was sent to love the men on these streets too but
that was NOT what my plan was for this night. This night was for a girl…any
girl at this point.
As we started to reach the halfway mark, we saw a bar filled
with girls on the other side of the street. So, we walked over. In the matter
of a few seconds, swarms of girls flocked to us trying to get us to sit down
and have a drink. I felt happy…for a few seconds. Once I realized what was
really going on (they were merely drawing us in and had NO interest in us
whatsoever) my happiness faded. I tried not to doubt everything that had
happened so far in the week but it was beginning to look a little dim. I had my
doubts. I began to feel like a complete failure. I had built up this street,
this street that we weren’t even supposed to walk the entire length of; I lead
the team into failure.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t sulking at this point.
So, we all decided to leave Soi Easy. Maybe I missed the
mark. Maybe everything I thought I heard was off. Maybe I let my own desires
and wishes take control instead of waiting for God’s plan. Maybe there would be
no more Soi Easy for me.
We walked back down the other side of the street silent. We
had almost walked off the street when I saw them…two of the sweetest girls on
Bangla Road….dancing on the aisle of the street. I noticed they were laughing
at something and I noticed the bar had games to play. This was it! This had to
be it. It was this or nothing. We had to sit down and talk to them or walk
away, defeated. I asked Lindsey and Melissa if they wanted to stop and they
both had smiles on their faces, a relief for me. So, collectively, we decided
to sit.
That was the best decision we could have made all month!
Before I fully could understand what was going on, once
again, girls surrounded us. I instantly felt anxious. What if they all left
again? What if they don’t care about us being there too? But, they didn’t
leave.
I am going to call the two girls, Laughter and Joy since
that was my first impression of them. Laughter and Joy did not leave my side
the entire time I sat at their bar. We broke the ice by comparing tattoos
(don’t worry…a blog is coming for this story alone) and playing Jenga. Joy
talked about how she had a son who was 7 (which completely surprised me that
she was 28 because she did not look any older than myself) She talked about
where she lived, what she liked to do for fun, why she worked on Soi Easy and
how much she loved her son. Laughter did just that all night. She would stroke
my hair and then giggle when I would tell her I loved her hair (which was
bleach blonde) She would hold my hand and giggled when I showed her I had another
tattoo on my wrist. We played Jenga for at least 20 minutes and would laugh
every time I would try to pull a piece out without knocking the whole thing
over. She was full of life. I knew these two girls lit up Soi Easy street every
night. I knew THESE TWO girls were the ones I had been waiting all week
for…they were it! They were my girls.
Lindsey ended up talking to another girl too and Melissa
helped me hold Laughter and Joy’s attention. We also got the bar tender
involved in our game.
By the end of the night, we had all their numbers, set up
dates with them and gained their trust and friendship. I knew they were
different from the other girls. I knew they were special. I knew they had so
much joy and love in them that they could give me. I knew I was meant to meet
them that night on Soi Easy. I KNEW they were the two girls God promised me. I
knew, I would try to NEVER feel defeated again as long as I could walk up and
down Bangla Road.
