It’s about 3 in the afternoon, and I head upstairs to find one of the clients who informed me that she had to leave Daughters of Cambodia at the end of the week. I want to talk with her and give her a hug. I walk into the large sewing room, full of girls and a few of our boys sewing, cutting fabric, lacing jewelry, and crocheting lace. Clients are hard at work. As is typical when I set myself on a mission to find a certain client, I am easily distracted and drawn into conversation with many others along the way.

I see Bong Pro [name changed] in his usual spot, cutting fabric, concentrated- wearing his new glasses- which he thinks are “ought saát” (not attractive) but I am continuously telling him how cool I think they look! (That’s because you’re a “barang”- foreigner, he tells me  ) I go over to him and he starts asking me questions about my trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand last week. I show him a picture of me petting a tiger. We talk about the tiger a while then he asks me if I saw any other animals. I want to tell him about feeding the giraffe but I can’t remember the word for giraffe in Khmer. Instead, I try acting the giraffe out- awkwardly straining my neck up to make it as tall as possible. Bong Pro guesses an animal in khmer, but again, I don’t know the word so I don’t know if he’s guessed correctly or not. Bong Pro finds himself mimicking the animal himself, and he loudly makes a screeching- bird sounding noise. Suddenly, we both look around and become aware of the fact that we are standing in the sewing room, with people working all around us- we had been lost in our own, animal and zoo world. Bong Pro is typically quite shy and quiet- making his animal impersonation all the more surprising. We both burst into laughter. 

It’s the little moments; seemingly insignificant moments, that can often feel the most packed with life.

I wonder if these are the moments which actually carry a lot more importance for eternity than most of the work and duties we prescribe such high value and importance to in our lives....