Returning

 

October 30, 2019, returning from Athens to NYC.   My daughter and I had traveled together for two months without having any major disagreements. There was just one night in Dubai when I was verging on being a selfish, judgmental person; I got over it. At the outset of the trip, I said I wanted only three things— to go to Prayer Mountain in Ghana, to do a day trip to Morocco, and to visit Pompeii.   I am easy to please most of the time.

 

I take it back. There was a moment on the train from the Athens airport to our hotel in the heart of Athens when I was so nervous about getting off at the correct station that two pickpockets targeted us. My daughter felt a hand in her bag and looked the thief in the eye. He bolted without her wallet. It was an elaborate scheme where one thief held the door from opening, while the other went for the cash. My lesson— stay alert, don’t become a victim.

 

Now that I am remembering— the other time my daughter got mad at me was at the Catania Airport when I turned into an “ugly American” and told off a group of Italians on the tarmac bus to move closer together so everyone could get on. I was shouting in English and nobody moved an inch.

 

 

trip of a lifetime

pray for Europe  Africa

and all of the world

 

 

 

dVerse prompt to use a poem written about myself and write a haibun based on that poem. I used my poem Language written October 7, 2019, while I was on this trip and at one point, didn’t know where I was. Now I pray that someday I can return, especially to Ghana.

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A Clearing

My daughter and her husband purchased five acres of land, lots of trees on it and a pond.  There is an old house there, three sheds about to fall over, two old boats that might still float, an aluminum travel trailer that hasn’t traveled since 1998, and lots of work.  She says she is feeling overwhelmed.

I remember when my husband and I were young and worked all day on weekends to clear land to build a house.  I tell her that I don’t know how we did it.  I can still clear brush and trim branches and find a yellow McCoy mouse cookie jar discarded in weeds.  She too will find her surprises.

 

old abandoned house

still remnants of who was here

earth cycle passes

 

dVerse haibun prompt on surprises – the big surprise was that the cookie jar wasn’t broken