I’ve had a different nickname everywhere I’ve gone in life. Growing up, middle school, high school, college; everyone has come up with something new and creative. When my brother was little my name was too long for him to say so he called me Tida. This has always been my favorite, most guarded nickname of my life and only family and friends who knew me when I was little still call me by the name. So when I came on the race and my team started calling me that it was like carrying a piece of home.
My first 3 countries on the race were all Central America where Christina is a popular, normal name and everyone could easily pronounce but when we got to Asia the first reaction was like, “whoa what?” I simply made my Thai name Tida to shorten the work for everyone.
Tida quickly became the ringing sound of my life in Thailand. Little child voices waking me up in the morning, excited greetings when I walked down the street, and a wonderful following to one of my favorites, Bam, telling me “God bless you.” It wasn’t until sometime in week 2 that I found out that Tida in Thai meant princess. I was going through everyday with these children and they were calling me princess.
Thailand Princesses with crowns made of vines.
It’s an incredibly humbling experience to be held at such high respect and not even know its happening. For the children I was just someone who played with them and gave them hugs but that was enough for them to not question the fact that I was a princess. Our village was the poorest part of Thailand where most of the kids barely see their parents due to work hours and have only ever heard of the Buddhist way of life and a tall, white, American is enough to be a princess to them.
By the last week in Kraeng Khro the kids were calling me Tida Sawan, princess of Heaven. We would all point to each other and refer to everyone as members of the Sawan family- Bam Sawan, Momo Sawan, Hona Sawan – because no matter what the world says our identity is we are all in the royal family of Heaven and sons and daughters of the King.
“And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth.”
Revelations 5:10
-C
