Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, VAYAnese!

I hope you all got plenty of holiday presents as well as many opportunities to dispense your own share of gifts. It seems to me that when the economy is bad, people tend to look to more meaningful gifts of love and the spirit. As for me, I feel happier, and that's all the gifts that I ever cared for.

On another note, despite global warming, this winter is particular cold. It snows in Julian and many So-Cal VSA's were stuck in a snow storm at Big Bear. Nevertheless, as I my toes and fingers are freezing up, my heart is warmed by a certain memory of another winter...

"Like Chocolate for Water"

It was a cold and clear winter night, a few years back. I was driving back from Orange County (OC) to San Diego after having visited my parents for Christmas. I like to drive at night because the cars on the road are few and the frustrated, anal-retentive drivers are even fewer. The occasional speeders and highway patrols don't bother me; they are my companion on the lonely Interstate 5 in the wee hour of the morning.

Any way, it was particularly dark when I pulled in to the Rest Area near Camp Pendleton. Still some miles from civilization, only the stars and the lamp posts guided my way as I stepped from my car into the frigid cold. I exhaled and my breath turned into small clouds of fog. I went to the restroom and on the way back I noticed several vending machines, each selling a variety of treats, chips, cookies, and sandwiches as well as cold and hot drinks. I approached the hot-drink vending machine and waited for a woman ahead of me to finish her purchase. I watched her taking particularly long with the machine as she was going back and forth between the bill receptacle and her purse. Finally, once she had made up her mind, the vending machine began to pour into a paper cup some dark aromatic liquid. I think it was coffee the way it smelled.

As the woman took her cup and turned to leave, I noticed a 20-dollar bill near where she had stood. I picked up the loose bill and handed it to her. I expected a quick thank-you from the stranger, but instead, the woman's face and smile lit up like a full moon and her eyes twinkled like stars in a dark night. She was so thankful that she showered me with many a words of gratitude and even offered to buy whatever I was planning to get from the vending machine. To this, I gladly agreed, having been a poor starving college student myself.

I opted for the Hot Chocolate. I think it cost one dollar and twenty five cents, which the woman gladly paid for. The woman said her good-bye and hurried to her car to seek refuge from the biting cold, her hands taking comfort from the warm cup of coffee. As the woman's car began to pull away, I picked up my paper cup of hot chocolate. I took a sip and was surprised--it tasted like water. I guess the vending machine ran out of chocolate-mix so it was dispensing only hot water. I couldn't help but laugh to myself. The irony did not escape me. I could have kept that twenty dollar bill and treated myself to a steak-dinner in San Diego, but instead, I did the gracious thing and gave it back to the woman. The woman repaid my kindness with one-dollar and twenty-five cents worth of "water for chocolate." Fate sure had a sense of humor.

I still remember that insignificant event today. But I can't decide whether I remember it for the plainness of water for chocolate, or the sweetness of the knowledge of having done something good and the sweetness of a stranger's sincere gratitude.

Merry Christmas to All my Friends. May we do a small good deed each day and receive many a sweet rewards from loved-ones and strangers alike.

About the Author: Frank H. Vuong serves as President for VAYA.