Maybe I'm Amazed

So I'm just sitting here on the couch on a dazzlingly bright Sunday afternoon in Nairobi, waiting for my lap to start ringing.

I wish that were as exciting as it might sound in the properly warped brain. It just means I'm waiting for a Skype call from my best friend, Faith. These days, both our schedules are so insanely busy, it takes focused mindfulness, and the actual setting of a specific time, for us to connect. But this time, there's a critically important task at hand--bidding a formal good riddance to October.

Don't misunderstand me...October is my birthday month, in which I generally seek every excuse to treat myself more like an Empress than a Princess. See something I like and don't need? "Buy it, it's your birthday present to yourself." A waiter proffers a dessert menu? "Order something, already, this is YOUR month!!" All told, except for the existential mindfuck that was my Twisted Tent Retreat in the Mara, I've had a really good run of it these past 31 days.

But, as I've mentioned before, October is also one of my tough months, and ironically, it's the same for Faith. As long as I LIVE, I'll never forget calling her one afternoon 3 years ago, to wail about being totally stressed out helping Ron care for Julie when most of my siblings weren't around, and it felt like nobody cared. She was so patient and soothing, and then she asked if she could call back later because she was on her way home from her mother's memorial service.

I knew her mother had been hospitalized. I knew she was gravely ill, and I knew she was near death. I'd just been so caught up with my own stuff, I wasn't aware she had died. Of course that tripled my anguish, but again, I'll also never forget how instantaneously Faith forgave me for not knowing. for not acknowledging the the passing, because she knew what I was going through.

Stuff like that can really cement a relationship. It's tough being so far away from your dear friends, but there's also a great deal of comfort in knowing that they ARE your friends, and that when the technology cooperates, you can still bitch and moan from 8,000 miles away. I think today's main focus of conversation will be amazement. We're both pretty shocked and proud that we've managed to soldier forth as well as we have since that dire October three years ago. We're both pretty hopeful and excited about what this next chapter in our lives will bring.

In fact, we're cooking up a plan that at some point during our Golden Jubilee next year--hers in April, mine in October--we'll mark the occasion during a safari somewhere in the East African Region. Now, here's a tip you don't want to ignore: if most of my ramblings on this blog don't exactly score high marks on the old "Entertain-O-Meter," I PROMISE you won't want to miss the Hilarious Adventures of Faith and Rachel on the African Savanna." I'm already astonished by the mere concept of such a journey....