WOW! The last several days have been a whirlwind! So, what should I post about today?
Should I tell you about the speaker I listened to on Saturday? How she described the heart breaking scene she witnessed as her brother's arms and legs were chopped off with a machette because he refused to join the rebel forces in her African town? Or how she waited in a line of girls and women to be raped and mutilated? She watched them torture her sister and was spared herself at the last possible moment when opposing forces came into the village. What a soul wrenching story. She now lives in the U.S. and speaks to groups of women about "HOPE." What an amazing woman. There is a DVD available with her story on it. I plan to purchase it (haven't had a chance yet...I've been so busy) and show it to my family. She even retells how her sister broke one pencil into tiny bits so that each child in her small classroom could have a pencil to write with. I know, I am so wasteful. I will think twice before throwing things away. We are so spoiled and blessed to live in this country. Buy her DVD here.
Or should I tell you about how my mother nearly collapsed in church on Sunday? Sheesh. She sat on the same pew as the rest of my family. I happen to glance her direction and saw her slowly droop forward. I swapped seats with my daugher, who had sat in between us, and touched my mom on the arm. She raised her eyebrows to look at me. Sadly, I know what she looks like when she's about to drop, and I recognized the signs. I told her I was taking her home, and she objected at first. But, then she began to droop again, and she conceeded. I took her out and drove her home. While I was getting her settled into bed, she said, "I wanted to just lay down on the pew for a minute, but I thought you'd get mad at me." Oh. My. Gosh. Well, she's doing much better now. She over did her physical activities Saturday and has been paying the price since.
Or should I tell you how my husband rearranged a TON of furniture in the house, and now it is all in total and utter disarray? I figured if I have to go through everything and reorganize and clean out...I should just put some of it on eBay. Right? Well, so...Monday, I put my first six things up on eBay. Tuesday, I got an email saying it's illegal to sell a bear skin, so they pulled it from the eBay listings. Great. So, I asked around, and a friend told me it's illegal to even have a bear skin in your possession unless you have the original tags issued to harvest the bear in the first place. Harvest. You mean KILL? Sheesh. So, I could get arrested for having a bear in a box. Nice!
Or should I tell you about...well...the rest of my crazy event filled days?
Ha.
What's the craziest most significant thing that's happened to you in the last few days?
Oh wow! I can see how tose things would be swimming in your head right now. :s Sheesh! No idea about the bear skin. Can you donate it to a lodge somewhere or something?
ReplyDeleteYour poor mom! Hope she's feeling better. That's always scary.
Oh, and that woman's wretched story of life in Africa. These always just rip my heart from my chest. So much goes on over there that we can blindly turn away from. It's such a horrible situation. Makes me feel helpless hearing about them.
My life has been pretty uneventful, so nothing to report... guess that's a good thing.
PK - thanks for your comment! Interestingly enough, I had been researching some stories of young women in Africa... considering potential plot lines. And then I heard this woman speak. Made me feel...hmm...like a frivolous voyeur for doing the research from the safety of my own home when she lived the experiences I had read about on the internet. I think as writers, we can consider writing books that will open more people's eyes on hard topics such as these, so that they can't blindly turn away.
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