It’s beginning
It’s beginning. The deep ache that pulls your throat into your heart, tempting tears and tainting all interactions of joy with its desecrating somberness is beginning to encroach on my living space. With only a few days left, I have begun to say goodbye.
It’s hard to watch the sweeping hillsides fly past my window on the bus and realize that a few days from now I will no longer be able to let my thoughts escape to their terraced groves. It’s hard to watch grown-men blink back tears when you explain that stopping by for coffee and politics next week is mish mumpkin (not possible) because I’ll be in America. It’s hard to let the nights slip by knowing that, for a while, this is the last time for laughing and lingering underneath the stars of Shepherd’s Field.
I had an amazing day yesterday meeting up with two friends I’ve known for the past 5 years. The entire day was one of those days where you knew there was no place in the world you’d rather be. I caught myself in beaming smiles even during the car rides! It was wonderful to be with friends who despite time and distance have remained close. I was incredibly blessed too, because one of them was supposed to have returned back for IDF service, but an extenuating circumstance meant they had stayed home an extra day!
There is nothing like the love and joy of friendship. I feel like this consuming joy and fellowship is what we are called to daily strive to have with everyone around us. It’s hard to leave my friends here— new and old— especially because they have taught me so much about myself. I am fortunate though, because I am returning home to wise friends with beautiful souls and incredible spirits. Despite the horrible things of this world that I have been confronting and battling all summer, despite the hardships and the pain countless individuals suffer on a daily basis, despite the desperation that comes when I consider the mountain of challenges that lay before us as a people and as a generation, it’s comforting to know that a love that can conquer all does exist.
PS. After spending 42 hours locked in a detention room at the airport, Hanna finally boarded a plane this morning and is headed back home. Praise God!
