Reprieve

6pm.  The sun slips away from the scrub of papery straw and dust beyond my window.  Gentle.  Quiet.  A bird or two twittering in the bare tree just to my left.  Empty.  But not lonely.  I breathe out a dry swill of content.

Amazing how the same landscape transforms before the eyes when the soul has stolen leave and returned anew. I left in the wilting, winding whirlwind at the close of the last year - feeling rather like some leaf that had been sucked into the tumult and spit out the other end tattered and a little worse for wear. Instead of relief at the calming of the wind, there was a knot of taxing apprehension in my chest. . . crawling across my shoulders.

Before the sun was up on Monday morning, the team as well as a handful of friends, piled into our Land Cruiser, trunks tethered atop the roof, armed once again with a loot of Scooby snacks (this time all of the Christmas season's leftover cookies and a fresh batch of pumpkin cinnamon rolls), and we were off. Heading southwest, we were on a journey to Juba again. On the schedule, an afternoon at the Jebel Lodge where the pool and food seem something quite otherworldly in this land, and a night at the Red Sea Lodge. One final night with Acacia until the two of us took off for Kenya the next morning. . . and that subtle ache of her absence would set in again.

The day did not disappoint. Suddenly it was all splashing and waves, dunking, laughing, sharks and minnows, silly synchronized swimming and tunnel diving. Like all of us let our hair down and were kids again. Have you three years, thirty, or ninety three, it hardly matters. Everyone needs to play. Romp around. Have fun. Be silly. Laugh.

Everything came together. Sun. Water. Laughing bellies. Hanging up all our responsibilities and cares in the change room. Sinking teeth into a succulent cheeseburger. Staring up at that blue sky. Remembering a thousand blue skies back through my earliest memories.

There was something odd about the pool water too - which gave all of our hair a most unpleasant gummy consistency once we were out. In Caleb's case it worked like volume maximizing hair wax . . .

That evening we sat eating as the Nile flowed mightily past us. We'd come for pizza, but what we discovered was an even better treat - a Mongolian BBQ!! Huge bowls of fresh vegetables, most of which we can't get in Mundri. Carrots. Onions. Scallions. Green & Red Peppers. Cabbage. CELERY!  So many mouthwatering vats of health and succulence before our eyes!! We all piled our plates high with meat, veg, and noodles, then picked out our sauces of choice, and it was all sauteed together for us. It was so good, and we were all so deficient in the veg category, we even went back for round two. My body didn't know what to do with so much goodness all at once!

Liana and I got to share a room that evening, since Karen and Acacia wanted a last sliver of precious mom and daughter time before Acacia was off to Kenya and boarding school. I snuggled Liana in beside me like a burrito, and we both slept like rocks (IN AIR CONDITION - which takes on a whole new level of appreciation when the average day-time temperatures have been climbing ever closer to the hundreds.)

So, yes. Breaks are good. I recommend them.

And this is what you do when you're Larissa and you've had two crazy months of non-stop action. After being too incapacitated to write, once you've had time to recover, you have to start with how awesome the reprieve was. And this was only the beginning!