Status Updates From The Happiest Refugee: A Memoir

It made me aware of making sure my friends and family always feel they are number one. That I remember to let them know how much I cherish them.

There’s only two times in life, there’s now and there’s too late.

‘You always have to make decisions in your life, Anh. And don’t kid yourself; when you don’t decide, that’s a decision.’

. . . ‘If you find the right woman, don’t waste any time, marry her’.

Since then, whenever I’ve had to go into battle as the underdog, I know in my heart that an extraordinary result is a very possible outcome.

But allowing someone who had even less than we did to live with us made us feel incredibly fortunate, wealthy even.

The next morning we woke up to find several thousand dead ducks. 😲

‘There’s only two times in life, there’s now and there’s too late.’

But my father treated that loss as if it were a win, and it was a lesson that stayed with me for a long time. If the worst happens, if you lose and fail, but you still celebrate coming second because you've given it a red hot go. There is no need to fear failure.

Dad picked me up from school and, after I told him I didn't win, there was no change in his demeanour, he was just as exuberant. Maybe he knew it was always going to be a long shot. I'll never know, but he called up everyone to celebrate anyway. We all went out and had yum cha and it was one of the biggest celebrations I can remember in my childhood.

‘Always question your fear, Anh. There’s almost never a good reason to be scared.’

. . . a huge number of Portuguese, which Mum couldn’t pronounce-she’d always be saying things like ‘I like these Pork and Cheese people.’

‘What a great country!’

He’d delivered thirty-nine lives to safety.

‘Ha! They’d have an engine. Only an idiot would try to paddle that far.’

Grim