so here's our Sri Lanka story

This afternoon we went to the wall overlooking the sea to sit for a while and enjoy the view. It was breezy and a beautiful time of day; the heat had passed and the place wasn't crowded yet. I had a cappuccino to try to kick the tail end of a headache. We were just talking and watching the clouds when suddenly there was a small crowd of people standing over us, surrounding us -- a family:

that's the dad in the middle, and the mom in the red and yellow

 We were sitting and looking up at them, and the dad asked where we are from then told us he and his family are from here, from Galle. He told us a little bit of the history with the Dutch, and asked where else we were going. When we mentioned Kandy, he said ah, the terrorism, it's safe to go there now. We are Muslims. We talked a little more, and then they stepped away slightly....and then the young girl in green ran back to me and asked to see my black ring. Then she asked if she could have it -- and immediately I knew that of course she could have it. She giggled and ran away, and the whole family was laughing. She asked if she could really have it, and then we all took pictures together.

the girl in green is now the owner of my black ring. the little girl on the far left held my hand the whole time.

It was the strangest thing, so funny and surprising. There were all kinds of photo groupings, and they were taking pictures of us too. We're not exactly sure what was going on, I don't think it was as simple as this story I'm telling but I don't know exactly how to fully understand it. But I'm glad for that young girl to have my black ring, and I'm glad for her to have a story to tell, too.