birthdays

I'll write more on the trip itself later on, I'm still processing.

I got off the bus, the place I called home for 48 hours. It took us nearly 9 hours to get to Anhui and almost 11 to get back to Shanghai. In-between we spent a lot more traveling time in the bus or in little tiny vans traveling from village to village, I was ready to be on solid ground. It was Sunday night and I had been going strong and fast since we left on Friday. We met lots of people and saw a lot of different things and I was exhuasted.

Also, Sunday was Easter, as well as my birthday. Since I didn't know anyone on the trip, no one knew it was my birthday. I didn't tell anyone that it was; there wasn't a context for it, and the trip was in no way about me. We were there to serve and I didn't want change that. While we were on the way home I had my family and some friends call me to wish me a happy birthday and a great day. I would have a happy, great Easter Sunday, like always, but this Sunday was different.

Every Easter and holiday that we have at my Aunt Sharon's, we always would call my Uncle Mickey, who lives in Georgia, and pass the phone around and wish him a Happy Easter, give him the 5 minute synopsis of the last couple months in our lives and then pass the phone on. As my family called to wish me a Happy Easter and a Happy Birthday, I realized that for the first time in my whole life, I was on the other side of that phone call. I was the one listening to the 5 minute wrap up of what has gone on since I left, and then in turn, give my version a couple times. I hated it; and because of the time difference, they couldn't even call me as a group, it had to be individually early in the morning(for them) so that I would still be awake. Needless to say, I was homesick.

The bus dropped us off at the clubhouse in my neighborhood. As I walk home, I realize how tired, worn out, stretched, sad I am, combined with many many other emotions that I can't quite figure out. I'm sad because the most I had laughed in days was when I was on the phone with someone who was 10,000 miles away. I walk around the corner, I can now see my house, just a few more steps and I'm there. I will walk in, give the very brief unprocessed version of my weekend and then proceed downstairs where I will pass out.

My plan is dramtically changed when I push open the front door and see this:



I stood there for a second, registering. I peek around the corner and the dining room is full of people who are there, on Easter night to welcome me home and celebrate my birthday with me. Lee, Brad, Natalie, Adrienne, Abby, Brenda, David, Ron, Ally, Isabel, Matt, Charles and Etienne, all who waited there for hours because my original ETA was 7:30, and I walked in the door at 9:30.

I was so excited, joyful, tired, hungry, grateful, and many other things that I was shaking for the first ten minutes. I also hadn't eaten a real meal in almost 24 hours because for some reason, duck necks, turtle, eel and chicken stomach just don't appeal to me.

It was exactly what I needed at the end of the weekend I had.