Chapter 4: How did I travel to our Galaxy, the Milky Way?

My parents were saddened by our divorce, but they were glad when their grandchild spent the weekends with us every second time. Time by time everybody became used to it. I didn't date much. I worked a lot, saw my kids as much as I could, and really didn't dedicate much time to women.

After a year or so, I began to get very lonely. I tried internet dating and such, but none of the women I met appealed to me. It seemed every woman I had any interest in was either hard and jaded by men, or was a woman of loose morals. The latter category made for a few fun dates, but I was interested in something serious and long-term.

On a lark, I investigated international dating websites. I had always had an interest in Buddhism, and found myself on a website dedicated to dating Laotian women. That's where I met her. Her name was Laya Bounxouei. She was beautiful, she was young (only twentythree), and she was smart. She was a university graduate who had a good education from a Laotian high school. Her father was a surgeon, her mother a nurse. She was interested in finding an American man. I started chatting with her, and we got along great. She was fluent in English. Did I mention she was beautiful? She was tall for a Laotian gal, 5'3, with long black hair, dark eyes and light, honey-brown skin. Petite, but she had nice breasts, almost too big for her small frame (but not quite!). I was drawn to her.

I told her I was recently divorced, and had two teenage kids. At first I thought this news would be difficult to her, but she only wanted to know the circumstances of my divorce. I told her the truth, and she told me that she would never cheat on me.

After a few months of correspondence and video-chat, we planned for me to go to Laos to meet her. I used my secret money fund for the trip (it had come in handy, after all!). I travelled to Vientiane (where Laya worked) via Bangkok and Laya and her parents met me at the airport and escorted me to my hotel. Laya was living with her parents.

Laya looked better in life than on video, and she smiled with her whole being when we first saw each other in person. I fell in love with her at first sight. We had lunch or dinner with her family several times during my three-week stay. We went sightseeing with her parents. I went out with Laya alone, too, but the family was obviously a very important part of her life. Once I was with Laya and her friend in a restaurant. She was a teacher like Laya and she told me, when Laya went to the toilet, that Laya had a fiance who died in a job accident one week before their wedding. She said that Laya was depressed for months after that, and finally emerged from that state. Some months later, Laya was still not dating, so her friend suggested that she try a dating website. She had been on it for several months, with no real interest in anyone, until she met me. She observed that I was like medicine to her; that she had really come alive again when we started corresponding. She admonished me not to break Laya's heart.

I knew that Laya had been engaged before, and that her fiance had died, but I didn't know about her depression and the rest of the story. I was touched. Before I departed, I knew what I had to do. Very simply, I asked her if she wanted to be my wife, and she told me "yes." I gave her an engagement ring. She knew the Western custom, and she was glad for the ring. We kissed and hugged and professed our love to each other. I departed, and we made our plans for the wedding across the ocean. Six months later, my children and I travelled to Vientiane. The wedding was a big event with Buddhist monks present and it took place over several days. After zhr wedding I came home with my new bride. I learned later that my kids told Melinda that I had married a girl from Laos. Emily and Ron told me she cried a lot and she was very sad for weeks.