Hum Drum

(March 24, 2014)

8:58pm. There were about a dozen gunshots fired outside just now, followed by a brief silence. Then a few more shots. I hope no one was hurt. They could be gunshots fired in celebration of a wedding but I didn't hear any music to accompany it. It's probably nothing, right? 

It is weird to think that in about 5 minutes I will forget that it happened and will get on with what ever I had in mind for this evening. It's amazing how easily we acclimate to certain things. 

"Intee Shatara"

(March 2014)

An Egyptian said this to me the other day:

“You are very clever. You are like a little devil.”

Thank you... I think?

عيد ميلاد سعيد / Happy Birthday

(extremely rough approximation: “Eye-eed mee-lad saigh-eed”)

(Today, March 20) Seth, you are one of my favorite brothers and I hope your day is wonderful. 

(Tomorrow, March 21) Elliot, happy birthday sweet boy. 

Wish I could be there to celebrate with you!

Up and Away

March 2, 2014

There's a boy down the street flying a kite. He's wearing green trainers and is standing on a ledge no American mother would abide. The kite dwarfs him and almost represents the colors of the Jordanian flag. The octagon spirals and dips over a street filled with traffic. How does he keep it from catching in the power lines?

At times, he misjudges and the kite plummets down and skirts the pavement in the middle of traffic, causing a lorry to halt, then lay on its horn. His little friend in the green shirt runs down, eagerly darting through traffic, and skitters back with the kite in his outstretched hands. Its tail flits along behind him. They clamber back up to the highest ledge and toss the kite back into the breeze.

No one cares, no one is watching, but they are having fun.

Sandstorms

(March 7, 2014)

The wind howls down the streets and rattles the windows. Everything is obscured and my clothes are musty with the scent of sand.

Time Well Spent

February 26, 2014 (My Birthday)

Time. It slips through your fingers with a vengeance. One minute you are bursting with enthusiasm for all that lies ahead. The next, there you are, flat footed and bewildered because your future just screamed by in a blur, morphing into the past without pausing to say hi to the likes of you.

And I'm only turning 30! 

I have a sinking feeling it only gets worse.

Jessica, Yours Truly, Caleb (and professor Carol Smucker).
Heineken Brewery, 2004. It was a school field trip.

It's amazing to consider what has happened in the last 10 years. My 20^th birthday was celebrated at the Heineken brewery and over Haagen Dazs in Strasbourg, France. Studying abroad, I marveled at my new found ability to move independently in the world. I wasn't sure what my future held, but knew I loved exploring cultures. Never would I have dreamed that this foray into the République Française would be just the first of many harebrained adventures. I am so blessed - and thankful I don't have to repeat some of those experiences! It's been quite a decade.

I don't own a house, or even a couch, broom, or fork. It hasn't always been a primrose path. I have moved 7 times (approx every 2 weeks) from October 17 to January 22 of this year. I'm weary of shuffling my possessions around in Rubbermaid containers. The only furniture I purchased was a used twin bed for $50... 9 years ago. Despite the upheaval and lack of material security, I am mostly content with my 20's. Although, maybe stability would be a good goal for the next decade.

The 30's seem to have a more realistic attitude than those gotta-prove-I'm-something-special 20's. “Well, like it or not, this is me. I suppose I'd better figure out how to work with what I've got.” It just sounds more manageable, you know? You can focus your energy on what really matters to you. Maybe I have idealized the 30's, but humor me, I'm new at this. We can either be optimistic about what we have or mourn what we can't have back.

What I'm trying to say is, I want to live well.

Don't you too? Don't you want to know you invested your time into things that matter, and that they bore fruit? You wise ones who have seen so much more of life, tell me how you do it!

Perhaps for you, time well spent means investing in your business or job, helping your kids with their algebra homework, fixing the lawnmower, or making popcorn for a Friday night in.

What is time well spent for you? Then do it! May it be based on your values and beliefs, and truly fulfilling to the deepest level.

Whatever it is, I hope you work at it with your whole heart. 

These kids don't know it, but they helped celebrate my birthday.

A Few Ups and Downs of the the Past Decade:

• Learned about true servanthood while working for a duke and duchess in the heart of France and how to accept hospitality as a guest of honor in a humble mud house in remote Nepal.
• Hiked through Glacier Country with my mom and watched her brave her way through two bouts of cancer.
• Acted as a representative to Belgium as a Cultural Ambassador and accepted some less than ideal jobs – or no job at all.
• Kept an eye out for wandering bears while a Park Ranger and was assaulted on the streets of Paris (and pick-pocketed, but that's another story).
• Invited to a recruiting meeting at an Embassy and was rejected from a good number of things I really wanted.
• Enjoyed sweet times with friends and bore through times when I felt I had no friends.
• Rode my bike through German wine country and crutched my way through five surgeries and biked/hiked out of woods/mountains with broken ribs/degloved jaw/sprained ankles.
• Swam with wild dolphins in the Pacific and spent long nights sitting with clients in their suicidal and violent darkness.
• Relished summer barbecues on Flathead Lake and gulped countless mystery foods (that beetle nearly could have crawled down my throat on its own accord.) 

The Groom

February 21, 2014

It is difficult to be far away from family. That is, at least, if you like them. Today is my cousin Janae's wedding. Janae knows who she is, is strong, smart, thoughtful, up for anything, stylish, athletic and all around awesome. Oh, and she has that Scandinavian beauty. She has stuck to her principles and waited for the right guy, not settling for any Tom, Dick, or Harry. I have greatly anticipated this day long before her groom came along. Today is a victory for all who have stood firm in what was right as they waited for the best one.

The vast majority of my excessively large family will be at the wedding in Seattle, celebrating together. And here I am, thousands of miles away, weeping in my maqlubba (traditional dish) because I don't get to be present.

However, despite my valiant effort to execute a successful pity party, it just wasn't to be. There I was, minding my own, pathetic little business, when a great commotion arose outside.

Well, I'll be! A wedding. How ironic. A crowd of men, all very merry indeed, danced together on the street. Drums and some sort of oboe/trumpet blared an intricately tempered beat that clanged off every surface. The groom looked dapper with his smart black suit and red tie. From time to time, men passed around a pistol to fire into the air in celebration. His friends, the men of his tightly knit community, lifted him onto their shoulders with hollers as they paraded along.

 Here was the bridegroom, celebrating with his dear friends as he prepared to meet his bride.

Before I knew it, I felt the euphoria that occurs when witnessing the culmination of a person's dreams. I was a voyeur, but isn't that what a wedding kind of is? You get to bear witness, in a very public way, to an intimate commitment.

So, Janae and Andrew, it is with sorrow I am not there with you. Andrew, you are getting such a catch. As I watched this groom today in his great joy, it gave me an idea of how you must be feeling.