Places!

Haiti, a country I learned to love.  I was not sure what to make of Port-au-Prince when I first arrived (this will have to be in my next posting); then Barnett forwarded an email about participating in a Progressive Dinner.  I've always liked Progressive Dinners, and we did a lot of that in the Foreign Service.  I called the person responsible for coordinating the event and asked if we might end the evening at my house with desserts and coffee.  The answer was "yes."  That was my introduction to Robin.  It was a successful event, everyone went out of his/her way to make all of us newbies welcome.  I made lots and lots of Lao and Thai desserts using the mangoes and coconuts I found in Petionville.

In a corner of my living room, I had a comfortable arm chair, a lamp, and a small table covered with books that I would pick up and read every morning while sipping coffee.  In particular, I like the Daily Spiritual Reading.  Robin actually noticed that corner, especially the book with hundreds of post-its all over it.  She asked if I would send something from the book.  Here it is Robin, a passage which I opened randomly.  I am posting it for you, and I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it...

And Robin, who knows, one of these days we might again meet and have a Progressive Dinner.  Unfortunately, the houses and friends are separated over greater distances, and it is going to be a grand effort to pull it off.  Perhaps a reunion?

Here we go...
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We have never been able to move without saying good-bye to all the rooms of the apartment.  Houses are full of soul and so are rooms.
     Attics mutely speak the truth that a family is more than the individuals who inhabit a structure at a specific moment.  Families are a complex web of lives stretched across years and generations as well as vast geographical and cultural distances...
     An attic's contents--forgotten treasures, souvenirs from long ago times, belongings once possessed by a deceased aunt or grandparent or cousin--serve to remind us that we are part of a larger organic whole.  They tease us into the mystery that our lives are not bounded but extensive, that our identity does not end at the outline of our silhouette but is in fact much larger, much more generous and more expansive than our present vision would allow.

--WENDY WRIGHT

in Sacred Dwelling