Fatty, you are the last but not the least of my granddaughters. This is my tribute to you. Your two older sisters are unique in their own particular ways. That is also true about you. I wrote about you and the song, Bette Davis Eyes. Your eyes are alive.

I written many essays about meeting you and Snow when you were in preschool. At the time, you were two. I came back four years later to visit my family again. By then, your parents and Ti Ti had told you about me. What did you think when you saw me for the first time?

When I returned on that trip, Ti Ti had named me PaPa Al. Snow accepted that name, but you didn’t. You wanted to name that strange old guy from America on your own, and you did. Whenever I saw you, you would yell the name that you had selected for me…Bo Bo Gyi! Bo Bo Gyi was a famous nat in your religion. A nat is like a saint for those in the West. However, the name means great grandfather. Did you realize the meaning of that name?

Nevertheless, when I’d see you, do you remember me ticking you as we’d both laughed? However, you wound up in my arms. As you looked into my eyes, you would flutter your eyes. Even though you weren’t as verbal in English as your sisters, you communicated with your eyes.

Interestingly, you came of age by the time that I returned for my third trip. On that most recent trip, your parents planned our family tour completely except for a few caveats that I had regarding the itinerary for our family vacation. I wanted to visit your grandmother and your mother’s sister and brother in Yangon. I wanted to climb Mt. Popa again…this time as a 76-year-old. Finally, at the top of Mt. Popa, I realized that I was getting old.

I also requested that they included a hot air balloon over Bagan. In my tribute to Snow, I mentioned that children had to be a certain height to be allowed to fly in a hot air balloon over the forty square miles of pagodas and stupas outside of Bagan. To make sure you were tall enough, Ti Ti and Snow add several inches to your height by stretching you. Apparently, they made you tall enough to float over hundreds the Buddhist shrines.

You certainly enjoyed the flight. However, when we landed, the pilot celebrated a successful flight by giving a glass of Champagne to his adult passengers. While you were tall enough to fly, you weren’t old enough to drink. However, you and Snow got a couple of the corks.

There you sat looking at the cork and thinking….

It didn’t take long before your creative mind caused you to see the parallel between the cork and the hot air balloon.

It is fascinating that you can focus your attention on anything that we were doing. In my tribute to Snow, I added a video of you and your sisters singing Auld Lange Syne on New Year’s Eve at our restaurant. You sang, in English, as you did the gestures because you were observant. That is also true when I made Bananas Bo Bo Gyi that evening. You watched everything.

When we went to Pan Pet, you checked out everything.

You watched the long-neck woman weaving. It was obvious that you understood that she was creating a woven piece of cloth to sell to visitors.

Fatty, you are the most inquisitive young lady. However, you also are a great actress. We went to the Taung Kwe Zedi Pagoda at Loikaw. You understood that you and your sisters were acting like you were in the movie, Titanic.

I am proud of you, Fatty. You are always excited and wanting to know about everything. We will have more times together. I miss you, your sisters, and your parents. I am glad that we are family.

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