Hello, everybody! In my diary in June, I wrote why I was named Bobby, and how I found my mom. Every year I “gain a year” in November because I found my mom around the Thanksgiving period in November 1996. My mom forgot the date she got me. So, unfortunately, I do not have a birthDAY. Instead, I only have a birthMONTH. I am not complaining about it. What matters most is that I am with my mom.

This November I am going to be 17 years old. When I turned 1, my mom celebrated my birthday by cooking a lot of food and inviting her Japanese and American friends over to our apartment. She baked two bear-shaped cakes and arranged sushi rolls in the letters of Bobby. However, she has NOT celebrated my birth month since 1997. She is always out somewhere, working as a global mother.

My mom will not be able to celebrate my birth month this year, either. I am not complaining, though. I understand that she is not a mom only for me but for many people. In the beginning of November, she is leaving for Laos to work on a sustainable rural development project. While she is working in Laos, I will write about her life there. Look forward to my diary from Laos!