Peace Love and Meaningful Moments

Five.
Carlon is 8 today. He is running around with his brother Linroy, and his friend Jaheim. He lives approximately 8 houses away from me and I see him atleast once a day. He is thoughtful, quiet, kind, and just like any other 8 year old, he likes to play. He easily plays the big brother roll, always sharing his sandwich, his banana, his coloring page, his pencil. If he has it, and you even hint at the fact that you’d like some or want to use it, he willingly gives it up, never asking for anything in return. Can you believe that? An 8 year old so selfless….i’ve never met a kid like him and with all our moments together I have become so grateful for this child. Today was his birthday. I didn’t know this until 4:30 p.m. He is running outside with a net fishing in the trench with his buddies. I yell happy birthday after his sister marvela told me. He said “thank you”. It was a simple exchange, yet a heartfelt smile went into it in both ends. I asked him what he got for his birthday. He said 500 Guyanese Dollars($2.50 US). I then asked if he spent it all already, and he said yes…I went and bought a drink for my family. This 8 year old child took his birthday present and decided to share it. If only every person viewed the world and celebrations like this, the world would be a much happier place. Happy Birthday Carl.

Six.
Sunday morning, Mothers day. The plan was to wake up at 4:30 am to start the nurses health walk at 5:00am. Well, I wake up, get ready…but there is a different plan in mind. We meet Mr. Hazel, the guy who told us about the walk in the first place. He is on the side of the road and waves for us to come over. He says that the walk isn’t organized enough….there isn’t water, so we are going to do some aerobics instead. Oh boy I thought. He has us running in a 15 foot space, back and forth, back and forth. I am getting dizzy around the 18th lap, and then he adds a new twist…have to bend down and touch our toes. We do this for literally 20 mins. This is located right off the main road, it’s a 50 year old man, and 3 white girls, maybe an 11 year old(his son) and his nephew who is 3. I don’t really understand what is going on, but we continue…and then after we are “warmed up” we jog on over to his place. He breaks out some music, and then the jumping, and punching and kicking and standing up crunches begin. He tells us he wants us to have a nice time….his 11 year old son is also video recording us for some weird reason. It wasn’t creepy..well maybe a little. But his wife came out and was doing it with us, so it didn’t feel as awkward. Here we are 3 Americans, at the bottom of this mans house at 5 am, dancing and laughing and in disbelief that this is really happening. It was one of my favorite moments here, a moment where you really just have to look around and say to yourself…yes, this is my life. I guess I know whats goin on at 5 in the morning when I hear the music play.


Seven
I was on my way to the grocery when I saw it. The smallest kitten, with the fiercest Meow. Maybe 2-3 weeks old, she was left on the side of the street without any of her sisters or brothers, and her mom wasn’t in sight. She was crawling on the ground…barely strong enough to move herself. I fell in love with her right there….right as I bent down and noticed she looked exactly like a caterpillar, only bigger. Pillar her name is. I am feeding her with a syringe. If she survives, I will call her butterfly. I hope I can nurture her in my cocoon.