1 Week: Nighttime Reflections

If I don't know you, I will forget your face and your name.
If I do know you, I will forget your name.
If I think I knew you well, I will forget your voice, but I will never forget how you seemed to me.

I am in awe of the power of prayer, and perhaps that is why I subscribe to their representations. I believe in dream catchers, not because I think that the Great Spirits and the magic within them are going to keep bad dreams at bay, but because to me they represent an ever-constant, fervent prayer to God to protect my mind. It's why I have a set of Tibetan prayer flags: because I likewise pray for peace in this world. And every time that I look at one of these representations, the prayer is at the tip of my tongue. I suppose you could say that I believe in symbols.

A week from now I will be staring up at the stars in Joshua Tree National Park. For the first time I am preparing to move after a season away from home - and will not be stopping home in between.

A year ago I was returning home, eating real meals for the first time in a week or so, and trying to get used to a world of white people speaking English again. And Black people speaking English. Perhaps the latter was more difficult. In fact, I still might have problems with that every now and then.

There's a list on my nightstand, of all the things I need to do before I go. It's actually not all of them, but it is a fair amount. The things I don't want to forget, and the things I need to get done. Tonight I did a few of them, but I think the real work will come tomorrow. I have to do my laundry, and then I can start packing. For tonight, I am going to turn in and get caught up on some sleep before the dawn.

I can feel that my time is done in this place: I don't think I was ever really meant to stay anyhow. And I am excited to be moving on to a new/old place and to see old friends again. But part of me can't help but feel a little homesick.