a jaraama

it is now only four days until my mom and step dad arrive in the airport of nouakchott, mauritania. we'll do two days in the capital, two days in kaedi, and two days in the village (no eletricity, no toilets, no beds). then fly out through tunis where we'll all get a few days to relax and do some site seeing before they go have dinner with meara in rome.

and it's something like this that makes me think more about how thankful i am for all the support i regularly receive from the states (or italy, now). obviously i would never expect most people to visit me here, so this is a wonderful opportunity. and with meara and jessie planning on a christmas visit, i feel luckier than ever.

but s0 many of the little things are what keep me going on a daily basis. the packages, letters, phone calls, and facebook messages. and even finding out that someone reads my blog or looks at my pictures can turn a week around.

i am, physically and in experience, very far away from a lot of important people in my life right now. and sometimes that is really difficult. but most of the time i know that the people i'm thinking about are thinking about me, even if the pace of american life or the economic recession doesn't allow for the amount of communication we'd prefer.

it's the moral support that keeps me here. it's you that keeps me here doing the work i've always known i wanted to do.

so this is a thank you. to all of you.

love.