When All Else Fails, Smile

The go, go, go of the last three weeks finally caught up to me today. It took everything I had to convince myself I had to get out of bed and go to work at 8 this morning, but I did it. The fact that it would be really embarrassing to write “I slept all day” in my blog was motivating, so thanks built in personal trainer.

This morning I split my time between the two halves of the center for elderly and children. As it always is for me in the states, spending time with the elderly women there was really difficult for me. It’s the same feeling I have while I’m at Le Nid; I just feel as though it’s easy to forget that these individuals are people. In our busy and preoccupied eyes they so easily become a chore or burden, instead of human beings who want people to show them companionship and genuine interest. So Sara, Emily and I did our best today to spend time with the women, sitting and “talking” with them. We didn’t understand a lot of what they were saying, but it was easy to just let them tell us their stories while we nodded and smiled accordingly. The listening was more important than our understanding anyway.

One woman told me about her family who have all passed away and she began to cry. She let me sit beside her and hold her hand while she remembered them. Another woman had beautiful light blue eyes that reminded me of Sam’s. I was able to remember how to tell her in Darija that she has beautiful eyes, and I thought she was going to fall out of her chair. She pulled me closer by my pant leg and started to hug my knees, so I kneeled down to give her a real hug. She hugged me close and kissed my cheeks while she said something in Darija. I still have no idea what she was saying to me, but judging by the context clues I think she was really excited that I appreciated her eye color.

I also spent some time with the children who live at the center. The excitement of the blue-eyed woman became boredom in comparison to the energy and enthusiasm the kids expressed to have us there. They wanted to practice their French with us and ask us one billion questions in the process. The top questions of the day were “Are you married?” and “Do you have any children?” After a few tries I gave up on trying to explain that I’m almost married and just went with “Qui.” instead. They absolutely lost it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen twelve and thirteen year olds happier. I also think they are all now under the assumption that they are invited to the wedding, so we might need a bigger chapel…

I’m really excited to get to go back to Le Nid tomorrow morning. It’s hard to imagine that I only have a few more chances to go hold those little babies in my arms. I want to soak in as much as I can and put in as much as possible for the next ten days. As exhausted as I am now, I want to be even moreso. I think being exhausted just proves that you didn’t keep anything for yourself.

Bon nuit!