Happy Fourth of July!

Ten years ago today, I was living in a tiny village in Niger called Bani Bangou. My best friend was named Hamma, and I ditched the 4th of July Peace Corps party held in the capitol city in order to hang back in Bani Bangou with Hamma. We took a long walk out to his mango grove, and while we were watering it from the river, I was thinking of Paul. Paul and I had very little connection at that point and had only had one real conversation about a month or so before. I was pretty sure he would be at the party, and I was hoping I hadn't made the wrong decision to stay at home for the 4th of July. Meanwhile, Paul was in Niamey at the party drinking hot beer, playing softball in ridiculous heat, and wondering why I hadn't made the journey into the city. Fast forward ten years, and today we spent a lazy day mostly inside with our child. Paul baked muffins and breads all day while Greta and I colored, napped, and read. It's been a nice respite from our intermittent travels during the last several weeks. Every July 4th I think about that day in the mango grove with Hamma and how Paul and I had been thinking about the other and about how to get to know each other better in a world without phones or even an effective mail system. Now here we are as a family with a little girl going about life in a pretty rational and easy way. I could not be happier that our being apart on that day did not end our prospects for eventually finding each other. It'll be fun to tell Greta these stories one day. Today - - she was just happy there were muffins to eat.