First a cultural curiosity. I put this shirt on today and felt naked. Yep, the grandmotherly boatneck top has now become too revealing for me. At this rate by the time I get back to America I’ll probably have advanced to covering everything but my wrists and face.
I ended up throwing on this scarf as a easy, skin covering solution.
Oh well. When in the Middle East . . .
For New Year’s Day we attempted to go to our favorite restaurant for fabulous salads and soups in bread bowls, but it was swarming with people who all had the same brilliant idea. So we snapped a photo in front of the gorgeous Christmas tree and then walked around the corner to another favorite place for burgers, fries and milkshakes.
Carter and Josh left for India on Friday morning. Josh is spending a week and Carter is spending 11 days working at an orphanage in a village south of Chennai. I think they are going to have a great time. As a Marine, Josh is used to roughing it (they had to pack their own toilet paper, flashlights, bedding, clothesline, and laundry soap. I’m also pretty sure I read something about “bucket showers”) and Carter is always game for an adventure. Let’s just say that I’m thankful to be home with my indoor plumbing and wifi. I’ve been there, done that with trips to Mexico and other “rustic” places, but I don’t know anyone who goes to India and doesn’t get a nasty stomach bug so . . . I’m just praying that they are spared from “Delhi Belly” on their trip.
at the airport
Waiting to board
I was at lunch when I got this message from them. At first I thought they were just upgraded to the front row of a standard, short-leg plane (where first few rows of seats may be a bit wider, but no other special treatment), but they Facetimed me and were all settled in their prime seats while the other passengers were being funneled to the back of the plane. Carter was glowing and on a traveler’s high. I have no idea why they got upgraded because Josh had checked them in the night before and they were in the back of the plane, but I’m glad they got a bit of luxury before moving to the land of bucket showers and limited electricity.
A little more than 12 hours later I was headed to the airport myself to pick up Calvin from his week in Austria. 3am and he was on his own high, talking my ear off all the way home about all the fabulous friends he had made, how they were like brothers, weird teenage boy pranks, snow, fireworks on New Year’s Eve . . . I’m not sure what he all covered because it was 3am and I was kind of in a fog. He’s already hoping to go again next year. (Yep, I told him so — he didn’t want to go and I said we were making him go because we knew how much he would enjoy it. And that he would thank me for it later. Check and check.)
The house is pretty quiet with various people coming and going. One kid missing really changes things around here. Only one more day of vacation before school starts and Varsity soccer begins. 5 days a week of 5:45am practices. I’m feeling the pain already . . .
