Posts
We have mold growing in our bedroom. It really shouldn't surprise me that mold could just spontaneously erupt and grow as rapidly as it has this last week. We live in a humid, moist climate and the walls are made of concrete. Factor in the bi-monthly earthquakes which form tiny cracks in the outside walls of the building add a weekly downpour of rain which creeps in through the cracks and you have something akin to a highschool biology experiment on how quickly mold can form in near-perfect conditions. Trust me it's exponential.
This evening I attempted to clean the mold on our ten foot ceiling. As I hopped up and down on a $15 chair from Ikea I wished I owned a ladder. And I got sad.
It seems a little strange to get sad over a ladder but I used to own a great ladder. Jeff and I used it to hang Christmas Lights on our beautiful, brick home that never grew mold and to clean out the gutter in the spring so that our luxury car would not get dripped on coming in and out of the garage and to climb onto the roof to watch the Fireworks on the 4th at RiverParks. Owning a ladder denotes permanence and alas that is not the life we have chosen. At any time we may have to move cities or even countries due to instability in the region, organizational changes or job relocation.
We knew all that going into the job and have tried to keep a distant relationship with our stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love our new home and our new city and learning our new language. But sometimes I miss the permanence and simplicity of what I used to have- sipping hot tea on our covered patio on a crisp fall evening and hearing the locusts strum their final tunes for the year. The only tunes I hear now is the city trashtruck whistling a sing-songy version of Beethoven's "Fur Elise" calling all the neighbors to come dump their garbage.
I am grateful for where we have been led in our lives and our ministry. We have accomplished far greater things than I ever dreamed possible but still sometimes a little stinging reminder hits me like one of the mosquitos that I vehemently search and destroy and ....
I still wish I owned a ladder.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Heather...can we send you one when someone is coming from here to there? Let me know!!
I seem to remember having a neat little ladder in my storage building that is not mine....could it be that you DO still own one...just half-way across the world? If so, I'll bet it's missing you as much as you're missing it. Please don't be sad...I'll take good care of it!
Aww Heather, I wish you had a ladder too...one day.
Valerie L.
P.S. Tell Jeff and the girls I say Hello!
I'm so glad that the circumstances causing you to "lose" your ladder are actually happy ones. You can be comforted in that.... But it is amazing how little things like that can trigger off memories of other things and what once was. That is true of everyone as life moves us along .... we just have different experiences and therefore, memories. Keep writing; we enjoy knowing what is going on in your life. Love to you all.... Gma Pat
emotions are crazy things! you never know how and where and why they are going to pop up. moving, in and of itself (they say), is one of life's most stressful events. add to that the whole new country where every single second of every single day is different than everything you've known and have grown accustomed to that has made you (for good or bad) who you are. it's tough! it's so much work just to do the little things!
but i hope you can be encouraged by your friends back in the home country who are in their boring houses with their boring ladders like every other house with ladders on the street and block and city. what are we accomplishing with our houses and ladders? like you alluded to, we are just fixing up our stuff so we can have life easier.
when was an easier life ever a good goal? maybe it's the american dream - but it is a misplaced dream.
it leads to apathy, flabbiness, boredom, lifelessness. all this stuff will burn up some day. what you are doing is real living. getting out there. getting in the game. taking a risk. turning your back on the easy life to have a life of significance. to have an intentional life . . . you are an inspiration to many. remember that at the odd times when the emotions blind side you like a middle linebacker. none of this is new information to you, but it never hurts to be reminded.
Great post, Heather! I enjoyed reading it and can totally relate, of course.
By the way, do we still live in the same building?! I haven't seen you in days and days! We need to get together. Out place is only about 20 steps away (if that). :)
Post a Comment