ooh, I'm a neglectful blogger/mom/friend/you name it right now. I'm blaming it on the daily grind of packing and painting (3 rooms down, 4 or 5 to go). I think it's a good enough excuse, actually.
2 days ago I was "released" from my position as the leader of the children's ministry at our church (that's Primary President for the LDS folk). I cried (of course) because I'm, like, totally emotional lately. I'm just going to miss all of those little faces, not to mention the text messages received 15 minutes before classes start ("sorry, I'm not going to be there to teach my class"). But seriously I'm going to miss hanging out with kids on Sunday. It's so easy to make kids love you. A fun game and some Little Debbies and you're as cool as Captain Kangaroo. Who isn't really that cool, now that I think of it.
So on to the matter at hand. I was just putting some podcasts on my microscopic mp3 player. I was doing the right-click "send to" method. It got me thinking. If I could be right-clicked and sent somewhere, where would it be? It would be Hong Kong, but two different days. The first was in the summer when I was there as a missionary, serving in a stressful area. We had a day off and went to the beach at Shek O to play in the sand and walk on the hills near the water. We missed the bus going back and ended up having to stay later than we planned. There was a diving platform there in the bay and a man came to dive. I watched him as the sun went down, diving over and over, his silhouette dipping into the water almost like he was pouring himself in--so smooth and dark against the purple sky. Just diving and diving. It was so peaceful, the rhythm of the repetition, the colors, the breeze.
There was another day, 12 years later, also in Hong Kong, this time with my dh. We sat in a park at night and I spilled it: I wanted to stay. I would give up the mainland leg of the trip for more time in HK. He was very kind and we promised each other another trip later, with more time in my favorite city. Better yet, he said HK was his favorite place too.
As I lay me down to sleep in my mattress on the closet floor (long story, that), I'll think of the diver and the conversation in the park and forget about the half-painted room and the carpet cleaners and the closets that need to be packed.
2 comments:
you make me smile. I would either be sent to Rocky Point - beach, tamales and no phone service - or a campground in northern Florida.
Tony and I were driving back to AZ. Got to the campground super late and set up a new tent in the dark. I tripped and rolled my ankle. We finally got everything ready, and listened to podcasts by flashlight. It was such an adventure!
Let's start planning our 2011 trip to China. I think the group wants to go to HK, Beijing and Tibet.
Well, I must be right there with you on the emotional front. Your post actually made me tear up. I am not sure why, aside from it being really eloquent. Also, I miss HK a lot and have been thinking about it a lot lately. I met a guy who is preparing to go there on his mission soon and talking about it has made me very nostalgic. Interestingly, I don't just miss Hong Kong, but I miss who I was then and what life was like at that time for me. I don't know if that makes sense, but I miss those days when all I had to focus on was missionary work. Life was so simple. Not easy, but definitely not very complicated.... I wouldn't even mind a day of mind numbingly boring tracting in Hong Seui Kiu.... Just one day.
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