a prophetic voice-

It's hard to believe but I am back home again, after three weeks of travel, each day marked by something new and special and wonderful...perfect weather (needed the umbrella only once, for about an hour, in Amsterdam); memorable people; fantastic food; glorious places; and a storehouse of memories to sort through in the days and weeks and months to come. When I inserted the memory card (lovely name, isn't it?) from the camera into my computer and began downloading photos, I discovered that I had 731 pictures. Of course, some I had already erased as redundant or woefully out-of-focus, and some I will erase as I go through them yet again, but right now I have 731 reminders of the adventures of the past three weeks...memory triggers all, to keep ever mindful the sounds and sights and smells and feel of the places we visited, of the people we met, of the celebration of life which was this journey. While I promise I will not burden you, the reader, with all 731, today...this aft...

Yes, we're here, after 24 hours of travel time and nearly 40 hours without real sleep. Last night the bed at the Wildebeest was so welcoming and I slept until 9a.m. for the first time in years. No apparent jet lag...and a slow,pleasant day today, doing a few errands, catching up on email, reading, and talking with people here. For those of you in Carolina who continually complain about our roads being under continual construction (and I am one of you), after riding down a main road near here and watching our driver doing potholes and serving into the non-existent shoulder the road countless times, I pledged never to complain about our roads again. The people here would think they were in heaven driving I-85...while we Carolinians mutter under our breaths and curse the NCDOT. All a matter of perspective, I guess, but we Americans have so much for which to be thankful- and too often aren't!  Tomorrow we head to Rwanda to visit with friends and meet our newest grandmothers the...

Two more nights in my own bed...and then life changes for three weeks, with the first night spent on a plane winging its way over the Atlantic to Amsterdam. Then, after a layover for breakfast and walking, back on a flight to Nairobi, Kenya, where we'll finally get to sleep about 11p.m. Kenya time (about 5 p.m. here) after spending nearly 40 hours mostly awake (I don't sleep on planes. At best, I fitfully doze.) By the time I fall into bed on Wednesday evening, I will sleep! And with nothing special on the agenda for Thursday, sleeping in a bit is a definite possibility. Hah! Fat chance! We'll be in Africa, in Kenya, so how could we waste the time sleeping any more than necessary? The smells will be different. The sights will be different. The sounds will be different. And I plan to immerse myself in the total experience, being as fully present as possible to all that is taking place around me. Even as I close my eyes now I can "see" the people...the incongruous...