Not
quite a hobbits tale, but a tale of two homes. My time in America was brief,
but well spent. From the moment I stepped off the plane, I slipped back into my
old life like I'd never left. But I had. A piece of me had been changed.
Suddenly things I used to enjoy, possessions I'd cherished, were no longer
essential. My perspective had been altered. When Mel and I went into a Walmart
to do some pre-wedding shopping, I remarked that it was bigger than Charity,
the closest town to my village. The abundance,
the sheer volume of things--- I was in awe. When biking around the
neighboring city, I saw houses that looked like mansions. And, I stared. I
couldn't wrap my head around someone living in something like that, to someone
living in the houses in Wakapoa, to everything in between.
I
visited a friend of mine while I was there. He commented on the discrepancy
between having basic needs met, and being happy. Gesturing around his
apartment, which would have seemed like heaven to most people in my village, he
remarked how he had electricity, and running water. Everything you would need.
But, he lived by himself, worked all the time to try to get out of student debt,
and barely had time to see friends. Compare that, to the social, if struggling,
lives led in Wakapoa. Can it really be said who is happier? I don't know.
But,
I do know, I am incredibly grateful for the life I have. The love, and
appreciation I received on this trip is but one part of that. Home is home, no
matter how far I may stray from it. That week and a half was heavenly. I ate
everything I'd missed, drank up the sight of the mountains, and my friends, and
my family.
The
reason I came home was to attend my friend's wedding. Initially, I had plans to
attend two weddings, a week apart. As the time drew nearer and the save the
dates reached me in Wakapoa, I realized they were on the same day, and I'd
agreed to be the maid of honor at both. Yikes. I had to make a decision. Much
as I had wanted to split myself and be in both places at the same time, I
couldn't. I elected to go to the
Colorado wedding, but I still wish I could have made it to both.
Weddings are, and have always been, brilliant
celebrations. Celebrations of life, of love, of everything in between. I
celebrated the union between two excellent people, Mel and Noah, and the joy of
being home with my family. I even persuaded my dad to dance Ed Sheeran's
"Thinking Out Loud" with me. Though I continue to lack rhythm, we laughed
our way through. My heart was a cup overflowing as Mel walked down the aisle,
with my parents in the crowd, and the Rocky Mountains overseeing it all.
Leaving that behind
was hard. But, as Joni Mitchell put it: "Something's lost, and something's
gained in living every day." Somewhere
between the losing and the gaining, I've found the balance there and back
again.
