My friends Mike and Alison met in Vietnam and fell in love.....with each other and this beautiful country. In 2007 they created a non-for-profit to help kids who suffered from the long lasting effects of Agent Orange sprayed all over the country during the Ameican/Vietnam War. I decided I needed to go. Curtis was in his last year of law school and would be taking The Bar in the upcoming summer and couldn't go. I needed to find someone who had their summers off, liked art, and wanted to travel to Asia. There weren't a lot of options in Ohio but I had to go. I met this person who went to high school with Curtis this weekend whom he told me was an art teacher. I called her out of the blue and asked her to go. Tracy immediately said yes, and after a few phone calls decided she coudn't because a friend was coming home from Iraq. So, I called up another random person I met one night who was an art teacher, Kacey Nobis. Both of these "random" girls had a few close degrees of separation in my life, and I didn't think this was a coincidence. Kacey Nobis now Watkins and I had agreed to go to Vietnam together to do charity artwork with kids and didn't know each other, except we find out our moms were friends in college??! We had a crash course on each other and decided it would work. I had resigned from my job at Pattison heading to NYC and mentioned to my principal that I knew this girl (Tracy) who may be interested in the job and I think she would be a great fit. Well, Tracy got the job, and Kacey and I went to Asia together and 5 years later these two "random" art teachers are my two best friends.
Vietnam was a wonderful experience and I too fell in love with this country. Kacey and I brought the work back to the USA and Mike, Alison, and I put on a charity event in NYC that was a huge hit. My mother even befriended the United Nations Representatives from Vietnam and was invited for a private tour of the UN. Here are a few pics, and a link to Mike and Alison's charity in case you are interested.
Me in Vietnam.
Kacey in Vietnam.
Us with group.
The United Nations Representatives loved my mom and aunt.
pictures of the art we did in Vietnam that we made into magnets.
Tracy and I in her art room that used to be mine!
http://www.helpinghands-vn.org/
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