They say it's always 5 o'clock somewhere, and for me, thanks to jet lag, the 5 that they're referring to is of the AM variety.
So I'm sitting on the kitchen floor, with my headlamp so I don't wake the dog (what has this world come to??), reading my Bible and writing notes to people… it's like I'm still on the Race.
But one quick survey of my surroundings will quickly bring me crashing back to reality. I'm on a carpet, next to a fridge with things like Greek yogurt and light Silk chocolate soy milk, there's a dining room table just ahead with tea lights and a table cloth, and up above me my family sleeps on- those people that I've spent most of the year longing to see and who were so excited to see me.
It's easy to get caught up in the moment, to think this is all there is to my life, to bask in the love that my family has for me and to enjoy all the conveniences of North American life.
But this is not my only reality anymore.
When I first got home, my sister and cousin and I went to my grandmother's, and on another early morning not unlike this one, I wrote "this too shall pass" on my arm in permanent marker. Lexie called me out on it, asking why I'd put something so grim and morbid on my body.
This too shall pass…
These days aren't forever. Soon she'll go back to school, she'll graduate, maybe get married, maybe move away. My siblings and cousins will grow up and move out, my friends will continue their diaspora across the country, my parents will grow old and one day they'll die.
These days are good now, and I need to enjoy them. But they won't last forever, and when they end, that's ok, too.
Because by then I'll probably be over jet lag, and better able to handle the next stage of my life. 🙂
note: taken on my MAC! (which is why it's backwards)
also note the bracelets from SA, Thailand, Swazi and Mozambique. 🙂
