So we packed last night. And I've made list after list today of things that still need to get done (starting a blog was NOT on the list!). We are pretty much ready to go but I'm sure we'll be up late dealing with details.
I'm both excited and apprehensive. How will Sienna respond to a country that is so different than her own? Will she freak out? Will she want to talk about what she sees and experiences? How will this journey shift her experience of her life back home? What sort of work will we be doing? Will it rain the whole time? Will those Bounce dryer sheets really keep the sand fleas out of our shoes? How will we communicate with our five words of Spanish? (Sienna asked me a few weeks ago if the kids in Honduras would know sign language..."Ahh, no" I told her, "why?" "Because I know more words in sign language than I do in Spanish," she said.) Will we drink the water by mistake? Or maybe the real question is will we get sick?
This trip feels like a whim on one hand and a significant marker on the other. When I found out about it I felt so compelled to sign up with Sienna--compelled is really the only word I can use to describe it. It feels like an initiation of sorts--to the world outside her home and school, outside the comfort of Burlington. And like an initiation it is a little scary--entering into the unknown. It is also an aknowledgement of her growing up and the role/power/choices she has in her own community and in the global community.
When Jim and I went to Spain I put together all these quotes about pilgrimages. Two come to mind:
"What matters most on your journey is how deeply you see, how attentively you hear, how deeply the encounters are felt in your heart and soul." Phill Cosuineau
"The path around our home is also the ground of awakening." Thich Nhat Hanh
This doesn't feel as much as a pilgrimage as Spain did, but there is certainly an element of sacred travel. I don't feel like there is a end-goal on this trip--no final destination, no summit to reach. Rather the calling for me is to be present both to myself and to Sienna. To see her deeply, to follow her lead, and to delight in her jouney. How blessed we are to share this adventure together!
I'm both excited and apprehensive. How will Sienna respond to a country that is so different than her own? Will she freak out? Will she want to talk about what she sees and experiences? How will this journey shift her experience of her life back home? What sort of work will we be doing? Will it rain the whole time? Will those Bounce dryer sheets really keep the sand fleas out of our shoes? How will we communicate with our five words of Spanish? (Sienna asked me a few weeks ago if the kids in Honduras would know sign language..."Ahh, no" I told her, "why?" "Because I know more words in sign language than I do in Spanish," she said.) Will we drink the water by mistake? Or maybe the real question is will we get sick?
This trip feels like a whim on one hand and a significant marker on the other. When I found out about it I felt so compelled to sign up with Sienna--compelled is really the only word I can use to describe it. It feels like an initiation of sorts--to the world outside her home and school, outside the comfort of Burlington. And like an initiation it is a little scary--entering into the unknown. It is also an aknowledgement of her growing up and the role/power/choices she has in her own community and in the global community.
When Jim and I went to Spain I put together all these quotes about pilgrimages. Two come to mind:
"What matters most on your journey is how deeply you see, how attentively you hear, how deeply the encounters are felt in your heart and soul." Phill Cosuineau
"The path around our home is also the ground of awakening." Thich Nhat Hanh
This doesn't feel as much as a pilgrimage as Spain did, but there is certainly an element of sacred travel. I don't feel like there is a end-goal on this trip--no final destination, no summit to reach. Rather the calling for me is to be present both to myself and to Sienna. To see her deeply, to follow her lead, and to delight in her jouney. How blessed we are to share this adventure together!
