Dear India,
Thank you for your beautiful mountainous landscapes and beautiful rice paddies I was able to see everyday. Thank you for all the hot sunny days and all the wet rainy ones. Thank you for all the chickens, cows, goats, water buffalo, oxen, and dogs, I have seen on a daily basis. I’m going miss it. Thank you for all of the rice I was able to eat every single day. Every single day, three times a day. And with that, thank you for giving me a few extra pounds to take with me to Africa. Thank you for teaching what it looks like to live generously. To give out of the little bit that I have. Thank you for teaching me how to be a hospitable person. To accept everyone and invite anyone into my space without question. Everyone I met was always so happy for me to come into their house and eat their food and drink their tea. Thank you for teaching me to be intentional with my conversations and thank you for all the new beautiful friends I have made because of it. Thank you for showing me new passions and love for things I never knew I had. Thank you for showing me what it looks like to love people in the silence. Because sometimes you don’t speak the same language but people still want you to come to their house. So you love them without knowing what they are saying to you or their families sitting next to you. Thank you for all the memories I will never forget. Thank you for the time we were all laughing so hard that every person around the dinner table was crying. Thank you for all the times I was able to play volleyball with hostel kids. Thank you for the gnarliest mud fight to have ever happened. Thank you for the time we walked through the jungle at night and had a dance party in the dark at a missionary’s house. Thank you for the time I walked through a river electrocuting fish with a ghost buster battery pack on my back. Thank you for all the times I slipped and slide in the mud. Which is way to many times to count, it’s kind of embarrassing. Thank you for all the times I was able to tell kids about how special and loved they are. Thank you for the viral video of my squad singing a song in Hmar that has made us famous. Thank you for all the times I heard “Hi miss” or “thank you miss” from all the kiddos. Thank you for all the hard goodbyes I had to say. Thank you for stealing my heart. I have absolutely fallen in love with Northeast India and I am going to miss it so much. India you have been good to me. Better than I could have ever imagined. Thank you for everything. You are one of the hardest goodbyes yet.
Goodbye India,
Savannah
