I often find myself so immersed in the “social service” mentality, which for me translates something like, there are so many terrible injustices in the world that I cannot totally remove myself and enjoy the beautiful things in life. I am constantly in that state in Moshi. The mountain is beautiful as is the land around, but the people are so poor and in need. Constant friction.
In the last two weeks, my lovely step-daughter Julia married a delightful young Charles in a wedding that was just perfect, and John went to Haiti to work with two clinics in helping to identify more resources for their patients. Oh my, what a clash of culture, poverty, wealth and need versus happiness.
My vow is that I will try to complain less, and my vow is to hold the joyful moments of Julia’s wedding, in their own right hope for the future.
Julia chose her wedding dress from the “Breast Cancer Research” organization that had traveled to North Carolina. It was lovely, perfect for her, and a testimonial to the work of this organization. Charles and Julia had worked tirelessly on their new (old) house and yard. With the help of friends, they had renovated kitchen and family room space, plumbed kitchen and bathroom space, repainted every wall, culled Craig’s list for furniture and plants, added a beautiful stone façade to the front walk, planted, weeded and watered. Charles, bless his heart and thank goodness he has a strong one, crawled under the house with those horrible hoppy cricket spiders to drag the new plumbing pipes to their new locations. Yet both smiled as each project finished. In the middle of all this, they picked fruit everywhere including the mountain house where apples, raspberries, blueberries and cherries produced a plethora of fruit this year. And they canned it all and made special little gifts of jam for each person who attended the wedding. Each had a little note attached.
All our family but Nana and Jim made it, and we really missed them. It was heroic work for all to make it from Rochester, Ontario (NY), Houston, NYC, Potomac, and Providence in time. Some funny highlights of the wedding were when KJ walked down the sidewalk and put the ring pillow over his head so that he couldn’t be seen and John showing James and Alex his expertise at tapping the keg and having it blow up all over him and his suit. Then there was the very touching proud father dancing with his daughter and randomly the music for the dance was John’s dad’s favorite song, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. The emotion of that moment reduced many who knew the story of the song to tears.
There were certain people who had arrived from out of town who were begging for a trip to the Q-shack, and low and behold, it was Q-shack BBQ served for dinner! Pies, Pies, Pies, and the surprise wedding cake baked by big sister Maya and her husband.
Friends were made and solidified, and this wedding brought them together. What a cherished time.
As for Haiti, we all need to remember that there is acute suffering there. Little has been done to rebuild because of the politics of the country, and suffering continues. John reports that more than 1.5 million people live in tents, including one of the physicians and his family at the Family Health Ministries program in Leogane.
Deforestation, homes in rubble, streets in rubble, people not paid for over 3 months, not enough food, medicines, work….all recipes for disaster, yet these amazing people keep working and keep making it all work. How do they do it? I don’t know!
So, I am going to keep the wedding in my heart and mind, and think of all the possibilities that can come from loving, gentle relationships. And all the good that comes when people love one another. Sometimes these memories make us stronger when it comes to the “social service mode”, and makes that work much easier to do, and to keep doing.
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