Last week was spent with grandchildren while our daughter Jocelyn recovered from surgery. Am filled with gratitude that all turned out well and her healing continues. Andrea's words again come from her time in Spain, about 3 or 4 months into her one year exchange there. The photo is from that time period, age 15...
…I’m learning a lot about change too. “Quietly awed into silence by what I understand but cannot tell.… Borne by grace downstream where I see but cannot say.”[1] My priorities have suffered an earthquake! The way I look, what people think…doesn’t matter now.… I miss you a lot but don’t truly want to be home. Sometimes on bad days, yes, but I still have a lot more to learn and a lot more to get out of this experience. I will admit, though, that sometimes a year seems like a very long time especially when there’s something I want to tell or show you right now and I have to wait for the next phone call. That can be really frustrating.…
From our book, Andrea's Voice, Silenced by Bulimia (Gürze Books, 2006)
[1] Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, 147.