the moment
Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 04:10PM 
I'm not really sure why i love this shot so much...
Maybe because it brings me back to the moment that I snapped it; squeezed in tight with my mom on a bicycle rickshaw riding wildly through the streets of Delhi. It was her first trip to India and we had just stepped off the plane. It was just hours before we boarded a bus en route to Nepal.
I also love bananas so maybe it's just that. Either way, this picture takes me there– wide-eyed, alone and overwhelmed in the middle of a city I don't know very well, senses bombarded, searching for beauty and peace and hope and finding it on the carts overflowing with cucumbers and tomatoes and lemons and guavas and bananas and in the warm eyes of the vendors roaming the streets and asking me if I'd like one.
I am finally slowing down, centering myself, and preparing for the trip ahead. I'm overwhelmed, I'm anxious and apprehensive and I keep thinking about how there's still so much to do. There's always so much to do. I stress about all the things I "should" have done while I was here. I remember how much I love my life, my family, my friends, and the people who I've had the amazing opportunity to meet this time around. I love my bed. I love the quiet of my backyard. I love and feel blessed that I have this life to come home to; this home that supports and embraces me.
I'm reminding myself to stop and stand still and be present in the moment. I am appreciating stillness and solitude. I am savoring my lice free hair. I am soaking in every cup of good coffee, every mouth watering meal, every moment with a friend, every hot bath, every mint chocolate chip oreo sundae... I could go on and on.
I am preparing myself to make this transition into another world and another life back in Nepal.
Knowing what the destination is comforts me.
Thinking about holding the children in my arms and hearing their giggles brings me joy.
But knowing what the trip and the travel entails makes me anxious,
And knowing that I'm leaving this other world behind again, this world that is still so much a part of me, that has made me so much of who I am makes me sad.
Reader Comments (5)
Maggie enjoy the adventure and know that home will always be there waiting for you.
What a wonderful, lucky young woman you are. You have two lives and are living them simultaneously. Most people don't even take time to enjoy the one life they have. You are a student and daughter, yet teacher and mother. You are truly blessed as are we who tune in for glimpses of your life.
Enjoy your sundaes and then enjoy your hugs.
Karen
Tomorrow is today, without the anxious anticipation. You are blessed today, tomorrow even more so. Anxious anticipation leads to the joy and wonder experienced in the blur of banana's and smells and smiles of tomorrow. And it helps to know that miles of smiles await you tomorrow. Would you want it any different? I love you honey... here, there and everywhere !!
Hi Maggie
I remember being so far from home once, well the first time, and the distance or the experience of distance, was completely unanticipated. I was in North East Israel on the Lebanese border at the age of 18, and I had made the effort to bring a tape recorder for my music and an acoustic guitar. Such was my optimism!! This was going to be enough!
You reached, Maggie, to another world, and another life.
It makes sense, as rich as each are, that there is always a moment of fear, of loss, and of trepidation, each time you move, one to the other.
But I can say to you Maggie, as you step each side and both sides of those lives, you are an inspiration to me.
With best wishes Maggie!
Hi Maggie,
This entry almost made me cry! I can relate although on a much smaller level. I use to go on religious pilgrimages. And I was so anxious about the trip that I would pretend that I wasn't going until the last minute!! Knowing that the plane ride and bus ride were going to take forever was bad enough but the worst fear was what would happen once I got there? I think the two lives that you are willing to live is one of the most inspiring things about you. It isn't easy to move between two places that you love when they are so far away from each other and so different; but you still do it! I think that's called courage. I've only known you for two short months and it's made such a difference in my life. I wish you the very best of love and peace in your life. God Bless!~~~:)