Small Town Comforts

I wrote this article before Thanksgiving 2007. Things have changed dramatically since then but I wanted friends and family to know that I have fond thoughts of Georgia. I look forward to visiting very soon.

During my language training I had a day that set me back. I actually almost started crying when I tried to explain to my Language Cultural Facilitator (LCF) how I missed home. I was speaking of my mom, the comforts of a small town, and the ease of living in America.

It all happened because of many little things. The blues started out small and then the small things ended up being the very things that reminded me of the small things that I love. Are you lost?

Ok so here is an excerpt from my random thoughts. I have friends yet by American standards I am not popular. However when you move to a country where you are the token "white " person; becoming popular is inevitable. However sitting under a grass roof with chickens running around your feet is NOT the same as sitting on the back of a Ford pick-up or chilling at the local coffee shop, etc. The other day, my friend Yaya asked me to come into her concession to greet her friend. I didn't realize that her husband was cooking a "goat's" head on the fire beside me along with the "hooves". He would take the head out of the fire every now and then and scrap the ash off then repeat the process over and over. He noticed the stare and offered the head as a joke, gulp… Friends are friends anywhere and they love making one laugh!

Anyways I started to reflect about my life in Georgia. Then I picked up a newspaper article about a small town in Maine. The picture caught my eye. It was an old corner shop in a small quaint town. It looked very Main streetish and downtownish. The article was even more reminiscent. The corner shop was a restaurant that had been serving the community for over 25 years and was undergoing a change of ownership. The town was worried. The 5am breakfast/coffee club of elders was missing their time together. The local businesses had to find elsewhere to grab their "sack sandwich" lunches. Then it hit me! I missed Kings Inn and Snooky's! Of course I never frequented those shops but I suddenly craved their comfort and security. I wanted to sit in an uncomfortable chair and drink really strong coffee while old men discussed crops, politics, and grandchildren. It was a rough moment.

All my life I have been trying to travel and see the world. I finally have the opportunity and I am experiencing things that my family and friends will never understand. However I feel as though my family grasped onto something that took me crossing an ocean to understand. Life is meant to be lived each moment at a time. I have always been so caught up with my "future" that I never focused on the here and now. Now that I am in Africa and I have a long two years in front of me I can ONLY focus on right now. If I start to count the months and weeks as they go by I will become so depressed that I will be no good for Peace Corps or myself.

I miss home and hope that upon my return I will be so grateful that all I will want to do will be to spend time living up the moment. I love you guys and understand that this moment was fleeting and has already passed. I am eagerly preparing to return to my site at this very moment and look forward to the next couple of months because I have a ton of ideas! OK until next time… I am going to kill the mosquito that has been feeding off me while I wrote this blog!