Last morning before Tet

As I stepped out the house on the morning before Tet, I was greeted by a crispy cold breeze and an unexpected silence that I had sorely missed for so many years - that of an old time's Hanoi with which I grew up and came to love.

Over night, the streets have suddenly been cleared out, leaving the breeze an empty space to play with the crispy dried leaves that had browned up the ground after the rainy night before. Despite the wool scarf wrapping around my neck, a naughty wind sneaked into my collar and sent a tiny chill down my back, just enough for a soft "sss" to escape the lips reddened by the cold winter weather.

Riding along the deserted streets, I couldn't help replaying in my head the long journey I had been on this past year, starting with Kinshasa, then Nairobi, Bujumbura, Paris, then DC-Bangkok-DC before the emotional rollercoaster upped and downed through out the summer and ended with my return to Hanoi. Yet, as I tried to think back to these unfortunate events, all I could remember was how my friends had gone out of their ways to help me. All I could remember was the laughers we shared. And most of all, I remembered the amazing boyfriend who called me every day we were away . In these tough times, I have really come to appreciate the wonderful support network that I have. Life is always unexpected like that, and knowing that there are friends you can count on is really half the courage you need to overcome anything life throws at you.

The winter in Hanoi suddenly felt so warm.

Photo Credit: photosdiego.com