9
It’s 9 years today. Actually the tailspin started 9 years ago yesterday as a plummet, and then 9 years ago today it became a full nose-dive tail-spin kind of thing. (Please forgive my lack of precise vocabulary all you aviators.) Nine years ago today “La Crise” (“The Crisis”) started.* Sometimes it get’s referred to as simply “The Civil War.” Both terms seem to be an oversimplification. A crisis would’ve ended sooner than this spring. A civil war just doesn’t seem like the encompassing term either.
With the advent of every September I wonder, “Will that week jump up and grab me again?” The question itself should tell me that it will, and it did. The bite was more of a nip this year, but it was still there. It still bids tears I would rather not cry. It still points out the gaping holes of having so many people I care about accessible most often through the magic of facebook. It still begs the question if my African home can be healed.
Even though the tears flow, even though I miss so many, even though there is so much still to be set right, I will choose joy.
I will choose to remember that evacuation brought me to my dream position. I will choose to enjoy the relational connectedness of facebook. I will choose to revel in the fact that I get to enjoy my family more because there are no oceans to traverse. I will choose to embrace the new connections I have because of living in a new city and working with so many other TCKs. I will relish the fact that even though I’ve been grounded for most of the last year, I’m meant to travel and visit people I love in both new and familiar places. I will choose joy even when my eyes leak.
What are you choosing today?
*If you would like to read the whole story of the events of this week in 2002, please go here and start with part 1.
photo courtesy of justmalia
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