boopyourface

I’d like you all to meet Jim:

“Jim” the tangerine and I got very well acquainted with each other on our 6 hour bus ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang as I had him practically stuffed up my nose for the entire ride.

Unfortunately, I get incredibly car sick quite easily and lucky for me, the 6 hour bus ride we had today was loaded with fun-filled exciting twists and turns through the mountains of Laos. We went about 45 minutes before making a pit stop on the side of the road at a restaurant/food stand. Most of the passengers were wondering- why the heck are we stopping already, when we’ve got 5 more hours to go?

But oh what a lucky stop it was for me.

I was already starting to feel a little woozy and we hadn’t even begun making our way up the mountains that were looming in front of us. I took one look at them and I knew- I’m done for. On a last minute whim I bought A tangerine, remembering that on our long car rides to LA my mom would stuff them in my face to make me feel better.

I climbed back on the bus when the driver gave us the signal (which was to frantically beep the horn) and took my seat. Sitting right across the aisle from me was a little girl who looked to be about 10 years old. She wasn’t feeling too great either and we exchanged a little “good luck” half smile as I took a sniff of “Jim”, which I clutched in my hand and she gave her teddy bear a squeeze that she held clutched in her hand.

30 minutes later the little girl who had her eyes closed and looked almost angelic sleeping in her seat, abruptly began spewing vomit all over herself and her father sitting next to her. She spewed torrents and torrents of vomit while crying at the same time (hey, I would cry too- I almost felt like crying just sitting next to her). Nothing in those two seats was spared, not even the little girl’s teddy bear that was drenched in barf. At this time , I myself, was feeling like crap and when I saw the vomit being spewed just across the aisle (dare I say, if she even tilted her head a little to the left I would have had a vomit shower too) all I could think to myself was:

“oh please Jesus no!”

I took Jim and just shoved my nose into the tangerine and closed my eyes. And for all those out there who have read/seen The Secret, I just kept repeating in my head:

“I am so grateful for this tangerine“

And I really was. I just kept inhaling and exhaling, repeating my mantra over and over in my head… I am so grateful for this tangerine, I feel fine, I am so grateful for this tangerine… I am so grateful for this tangerine…

Within 15 minutes of the little girl spewing vomit, the good people on the bus (people without tangerines, I’m sure) begin to spew some vomit of their own. I suppose the silver lining on this cloud was that after witnessing the little girl’s ordeal everyone armed themselves with the plastic bags the bus company provided- the puke bags. I’d say once every half an hour or so you could hear the lovely sounds of upchuck being expelled.
But I just sat there, repeating my mantra, my “please don’t let me puke” meditation (maybe my trip to the Buddha Park indirectly strengthened my powers of meditation), while sharing an earphone with Will listening to the soothing sounds of Simon and Garfunkel on his ipod…

…..like a bridge over troubled water….I am so grateful for this tangerine….

Much to my amazement, I made it the rest of the way to Luang Prabang- puke free, clutching Jim to my nose the entire way. After the first hour Jim, being the tangerine that he is, started drying up. So I just poked holes in the sections of tangerine fruit that I had left. Did I care that my entire nose, cheeks, lips were covered with tangerine juice? It was either that…or puke. I did not take that tangerine off my face even for a moment of our long arduous mountain journey.

It was by far the best 12 cents I’ve spent.

And in closing, I come away with these thoughts:

1. I can see this being the beginning to a long term love affair with tangerines

2. We are flying to Hanoi

3. The powers of meditation and positive thinking MUST really work if I could make it through that without incident…I am so grateful for…this umm, million dollars?? Haha, hey it’s worth a shot.

Or maybe that was just a really good tangerine. Thanks Jim.