Afternoon Light

It was a few minutes before two o'clock on Sunday afternoon and there were about twenty of us waiting for the speedboat that would transport us from Koh Samed, Thailand to the mainland. Some of our teacher-friends were sitting in teak chairs gazing out at the sea. We were finishing our lunch - an amazing plate of pad thai with peanuts and chicken. Those with children were trying to keep their kids out of the water, out of the sun, out of trouble. Frankly, it's pretty hard to keep little ones out of both water and sun when you're waiting on a beach that's been like your living room for the past two days.

I, for one, was glad that she ran out into the sun for a moment.