From Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale

People disappear when they die. Their voices, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living mempry of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continut to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humour, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic.

--Diane Setterfield



Thursday, November 11, 2010

Trip

I was going to hop on and write up a fantastic review of my whirl wind adventure in the Middle East. Then I got distracted reading everyone else's blogs. This is why I never blog anymore. I run out of time.
Anyways.
I got a call about 2 weeks ago* from my new Step-dad**. He asked if would be interested in going to Israel and Egypt for a little over a week~. Um, Yeah! He called back a little later and we worked things out. This is what happened:
Saturday - got a call from Eldon.
Sunday - tell gals at church that I might not be there for the Primary Presentation*** practices b/c of possibility of a trip overseas.
Monday - go to Passport Offices in Seattle^
Tuesday - pick up passport, dinner with friends who babysit Jaedyn, stay up all night watching NCIS
Wednesday - leave for the airport at 3 AM, fly to NYC^^, Fly to Tel Avive^^^, surprise my mom who had NO idea I was coming.
Other days - we were going and going and going, our trip was run on Energizer, I swear.
Other other day - flew to Jordan, stayed the night
Day after that - flew to Cairo
Two days later - flew back to the USA
Okay, I'll post more and better descriptions in subsequent posts.

So don't read the footnotes if you are squeamish or just ate...

*On Saturday the 23 of October
**Ugh, it's weird to call him that, but he IS my new Step-Dad... I just wish there was a less offensive term. Mom's new husband is better but it takes like a second longer to type.
~ Tarah is doing a study abroad in Jerusalem and Miles is in Afghanistan, Emma is going to school full time and I... recently quit my nanny job. I'm like the only one who could go.
*** SO. In church I was given a calling (volunteer opportunity) to be the music leader for the kids ages 3-12. Great. I like it, now that I have seen a REAL chorister in action. I have all sorts of ideas up my sleeves. BUT. Every year the Primary does a Sacrament Meeting Program / main congregation meeting. This year I had 4 weeks between the first week that I started leading the music to the Program. The kids didn't know the songs as well as I would have liked. I didn't know the who's and what's of the program.~~
^I couldn't find my actual birth certificate... or Jaedyn's but that's another story. So I took in early elementary school records, a baptismal certificate and my 'certificate of birth' from the hospital (not official, it had my footprints on it though)
^^I got sick and threw up. Had a little coming out the other end too.
^^^Threw up more. Multiple times. Poor sweet Jewish couple sitting next to me. I've NEVER been airsick before. I could taste everything I ate for the last three meals in my burps. Never a good sign. The last time I threw up I was pregnant and stressed. I was thinking,' oh, crap, what if I'm pregnant again?!?'
~~ But that's okay because on Wednesday evening there was a meeting to introduce new people, like me, to the leaders of the Primary and go over the presentation and stuff. I missed the meeting and still have no idea what's going on.

2 comments:

Christine said...

So what was the purpose of the trip? I'm having a hard time figuring out if this was a church thing or a last minute invite from the family?

Either way I am really jealous. Dak is dying to take me to Israel someday :)

Unknown said...

Ah, patience my blog reader... all will be revealed in the next installment which I will write forthwith.