Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Update Number Two

This will be short. I'm tired. I found out today that Maggie returned to school and is doing very well. So good to hear.

I also found out that as much as I want to say that I'm not feeling stressed...I am. A small issue with a camera lens was the tipping point of an emotional meltdown of tears and incoherent ramblings that led to an unproductive early afternoon (that needed to be very productive in order to get things ready for a month long trip) where I felt like I just needed to sit and process all the things I was feeling in my heart. That unproductive early afternoon set the stage for an unproductive late afternoon of not going to Costco or Office Depot but traipsing around the beach barefoot with my son and a video camera. The interesting thing about the whole day is that I actually learned something. You know, sometimes we just have these bad days where they pass by and all you can say is "Man, that day sucked." But not today. Today, my son taught me something I seem to have forgotten this week. Running around on the sand on a windy, cold day, with rolled up wet jeans unleashes something healthy in my soul. Watching wildness and freedom dance around in the body of my 9 year old Ugandan child enlightens my spirit even more.

My mom has a sign in her guest bedroom that says "I come to the sea to breathe." And today, that is what I did. I came to the sea to breathe.

Sitting on the edge of our trunk wiping the sand from our feet, Perez looked at me in a way that our hearts collided before our words could. "I needed that," he said. "Me, too, Son. Me, too."

From Uganda (and the San Diego shore) with Love,
Ali

1 comments:

mamajane said...

Ali, this brought tears to my eyes. You are such a gifted writer. I can totally relate to this and am so grateful to our loving and kind Father for creating for us a big beautiful world....that of sea, wind, sand, stars, plants & animals.... We need to be more in touch with it in this fast-paced life in San Diego. I'm so glad you and Perez did exactly what you did. Costco & Office Depot happens. ;0)