Mothers’ Day
Today, August 12th, is Mothers’ Day in Thailand. It also happens to be the queen’s birthday. I don’t know whether they shifted Mothers’ Day onto her birthday or not, but I suspect so, since Fathers’ Day is on the king’s birthday in December.
It is also the day that I went home after my first visit to Thailand eleven years ago. I had met a girl on my first day on a blind date organized by a friend who was already here and I stayed with her for the whole month. I returned six weeks later and am still with her now as her husband in Thailand.
She would dearly like to live in the UK for a few years, as I have in her country, but she would never get a long-stay visa as I don’t earn £20k a year. So much for equality in Britain. You can only have a foreign spouse if you have a good job. You may say that £20k is below the national average wage, but we all know that that is a con. £20k is a very good wage.
Mothers’ Day is usually widely celebrated in Thailand, but this year I see little evidence of it. Normally, people, especially young women, who work away come home to wish their mothers happiness and villages like ours swell by 20-25%. I don’t know why that hasn’t happened this year. It’s the first time in eleven years. Mothers’ Day was the first time I visited the village where I now live all those years ago, although we came here on the weekend before, possibly because I was going home on the actual day.
The place was jumping then with parties starting at five a.m. and music being played in every household until midnight and I stayed from Friday morning until Monday evening. I gave a full description of that weekend in my first book: ‘Behind The Smile – Daddy’s Hobby’: http://behind-the-smile.org
Happy Mothers’ Day, if you are one, but have a great day even if you’re not.
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Podcast: Mothers’ Day