Thank you, Sunnyside for our gift box. Yes, you can see the twine from custom's rampage through the package. Yes, every can of Pringles you sent was opened and poured throughout the box...but it got here. (At least everything else was virtually untouched). Thank you for your love, your prayers, your thoughts and well wishes. The cards, gifts, books meant so much to Bri, Ashley, me and John. We are doing fine. The church in Chennai is doing fairly well. Thus far, no serious persecution here in the city that I know of...but the rural areas...keep praying, please.
I wanted to shift gears and reflect on what it's been like, now that we have 6 months in. I guess I have to be ever so careful with my words...I don't want to say anything inflammatory or sound like an...alarmist, so...choosing my words ever so carefully...here goes:
There are ways that I can empathize and sympathize with the poverty in India, afterall, we grew up in poverty, but we really just didn't notice it, because most of our friends were poor too. It's so wierd, I guess is the best way to describe it. I remember going over to some wealthier friends homes throughout childhood and feeling so out of place in their upper eschelon neighborhoods, never really being comfortable. We had a comradie in "da hood", like it was "us against them"...we were on the bottom striving to make our way out...trying to pull a "George Jefferson" and move it on up...
I guess that is the beauty of America...you really can achieve your dreams and beyond...the opportunity is there.
So now...it's like the tables are turned...and here I sit in the wealthy neighborhood, servants come and go, eager to please...fearful of losing their job...such humility in their hearts. I can't take it. I feel like Jennifer Lopez singing "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got...I'm still, I'm still Jenny from the block"... I believe the compassion and love of mankind transcends all barriers, and not like I'm emulating George W. lookin' into Putin's eyes...but I find myself searching deeply within people's eyes, past the core of anger or resentment of foreigners floating through their land with freedoms they can never quite attain...maybe I'm just having my WWJD moment, trying to be that light on a hill. I don't know...
It was more fun being in "da hood" hustling for a buck and surviving. Then again, reflecting on the "good ol' days" is always more happier than the reality of being there. Who wants to go to bed hungry?
Well, here I sit, planning another whirlwind vacation. Truth be told, I AM TERRIFIED OF BEING ON A CRUISE BOAT THIS BIG. Echoes of Titanic fill my mind. I find the sound of a fog horn petrifying, it just leaves me quaking inside. My silly girls are determined to watch Titanic tonight. I had found movies like Spartacus, Ben Hur and Gladiator at the DVD shop to try and bring them up to speed on Rome, the Colluseum and Circus Maximus. They seem so clueless as to what happened, or even connecting the dots to 70AD when Rome destroyed Jerusalem, using much of the gold, precious items to be reconstructed in their colluseum. I guess they are much more interested in "where is the mall"...
I know one day they will appreciate this great opportunity that they have been given. I'm just trippin' thinking...what if a rogue wave hits? I never got over the heart sick feeling that settled in after Poseidon Adventure either. So why did I pick a cruise to go on? What we did in Egypt is "nothing", NOTHING compared to this...being out to see on a huge vessel. In Egypt we simply floated down the river, with the land on either side. I could have swam to shore if I had to...
Okay, six months in, my job terminated, I want you guys at the courthouse to know you are always drifting through my mind. My family is always drifting through my mind. My mom and dad are always in my dreams, comforting me in this strange land. I feel like my mind and eyes are still looking for some semblence or essence of HOME, good ol' Decatur...the smell of Staley's in the air...I guess other smells have filled my nostrils these days, and other sights have filled my core. But my Johnnie Frank is happy as a lark, and I am really happy for him. I am really glad they have been able to do good things for India at work, and I really am trying to "enjoy the ride".
Six months in, 30 to go...stay tuned.
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