Life’s Ups

05/01/08

It’s with a great deal of reluctance to write about life’s ups. I am not a superstitious person, but a great many things can’t be explained by the rational mind. I understand life’s downs follow life’s ups. Hopefully, saying that won’t accelerate the cycle.

Mary and I have hit our Peace Corps stride. She has found a niche by starting an English Reading Program at the local primary school. Clearing out land and working my garden project has put me in touch with more village people. We both feel a sense of being engaged with out other projects moving along and a slow, but meaningful pace.

Our everyday living conditions now are routine while a short while ago they were strange and slightly bearable. Even canned mackerel four or five times a week seem normal. Mary has dropped forty pounds. I have also lost weight. Our village life is accomplishing what Weight Watchers and Life Tyme Fitness could not.

Today is May Day. This is a time for May Baskets, May Poles, and May Day Parades. May Day may not mark the astronomical beginning of spring, but it certainly represents a psychological renewal of life. May this May Day be enjoyed by those on life’s ups and be a reciprocation for those experiencing life’s downs.