milestones

it's been a week of transitions... leaving behind a place that had become a Home. people that have become Family. handing over responsibilities i'd carved within our programs to my Replacement. having another Birthday. reaching two countries i've never been to before on an amazing travel Adventure... as you may can imagine, my head and heart are still spinning from it all, and i imagine it will take me awhile to calm down on the inside from all the commotion, excitement, and sadness of it all...

but here in the quiet of an internet cafe in the lovely central asian city of Bishkek i have found a bit of silence. i've read all the "happy birthday" emails (thank you!!) and enjoyed long chats and lingering lunches already with my dear friend here and her sweet sisters. tomorrow, we embark for st. petersburg and the hermitage and the sites and sounds of such an enchanting historical place. it's thrilling!

i spent my birthday morning in jakarta (again!) but this time with a forever friend enjoying the perfect brunch before my flight. by evening i found myself at lovely riverside Thai restaurant in bangkok with another dear friend from Banda. we talked of our transition out of such an intense, unique place and all the possibilities of what's ahead. i think it will take awhile for me to realize all the ways the past year has changed me, grown me, perhaps redirected me... but i know already that living in a place with such a strong sense of culture and heritage, around people with such tenacious ties to their roots and convictions have made me dig even deeper into my own...

i axiously await the embrace of southern hospitality, the taste of sweet tea, and the smell of pecan pie. of seeing my nephews new pigs, and sitting in our backyard swing with my daddy and my sister drinking coffee. of strolling around the Lee homestead and listening to the rushing mountain stream. of sitting in a restaurant in old town alexandria having dinner and laughing with my friends until late in the evening. of spending long hours in barnes and noble reading books on random subjects, and driving my little car for mile after mile with the sunroof open and music loud...

i can't wait to be in my country again where the women are free to dress how the want, go where they want, have access to education and job opportunity. where the press is free (most of the time) but everyone is still free to think for themselves, believe as they choose and speak their mind without fear. my hope is that when i return, even though i may have experienced other parts or the world and other cultures much moreso than i ever have in my life, that i truly appreciate immensely more the Little Things that make home Home... family, friends... all of you. it's not such much about defining your ethnic or cultural identity, it's about having relationships that give you a sense of Community and Belonging... and thankfully, we can find that to some degree anywhere in the world (as i did in Banda), but no place, nowhere in the world can ever compare to Home.

i miss you all, and can't wait to see you!

love,
bonnie jean