The Greenie Fan

When I was a poor little "greenie" missionary in Bangkok- we took our free day and went to the Rose Garden. This is beautiful place, and also a trap for sucker tourists (and though I was not there as a tourist- I was a naive sucker none the less!) There were Thai people with traditional outfits on, painting scenes of this beautiful country, and I was drawn to it like a magnet.

I picked out a giant fan- Sure that this scene of the country I was growing to love- would be a great addition to my future household decor. (I would just like to make a side comment- that in this stage of my life, I had not yet embraced the thoughts of what kind of decor I would like- whether the things I collected from random countries would go together AT ALL or where/how I would use these items. Instead, I was pretty much embracing the "you like it you buy it" philsophy.)

No one told me this was a bad idea. Even my lovely trainer, neglected to mention many things. There was no mention of- "This is pretty early in your mission, do you want to wait and get one later?" or "are you sure that you want to carry that around for the next 13 months" or "are you even going to like this by the end of your mission?" "Do you really think you will like this when you get home?" or the trump card "What are you going to do with it when you get it home?"

No. None of these things were mentioned. Nor did they occur to me. I proudly and excitedly purchased my hand painted fan. And I carried it throughout my mission. I say carry- because I deserve to. This awkwardly shaped item does indeed fold up, but unbeknownst to me, would not fit in my large suitcase nor my backpacking pack (yes it is that large!) But it went everywhere with me. and I carried it on the plane coming home.

Thus it was one of the first things that my family saw. (and I sure wondered to themselves what I would do with it)

Meanwhile- one of my friends from the mission, Scottie, likewise purchased a giant, hand-painted fan (though he was smart enough to wait until the end of his mission to do so) And when he got home, his family teased him that he would never do anything with it. He wanted to prove that he infact would and we took a trip to Home Depot to try to figure out what kind of mounting would proudly display this on his bedroom wall.

Mine, however remained in my sister's basement (my roommates not being so keen on the fan decor) until my marriage to bobby, when I decided to grow up and take care of my own stuff (well most of it!)

For those of you who know Bobby, you will know that he does not like to keep things that he does not see a use for in the present or near future. Thus, the fan folded in the corner of our bedroom got consistent attention. Finally, it was even decided that I just needed to send it to DI. As its impending doom approached, someone (maybe mom porter??) Forbade it and reminded us of how much fun it will be to have our kids play with such things from our past. And since I am much more of a sentimental Smuck than Bobby, I pleaded its case and it returned to being folded up in the corner.

So now for the point of this saga! Not long ago, I came home and found that Bobby and cleaned up the bedroom and found niches and storage places for all the homeless items out in our bedroom (it looks so nice and clean now!!)

He had decided to embrace the fan, after all we were going to keep it anyway, and he jimmy-rigged a way to put it up on our bedroom wall! We thought it would be just funny for a few days- but it has grown on us and actually goes rather well in our bedroom. The fan has found its place!! (for now anyway) and our little bedroom is suddenly much more exciting!