Just a few more days in the flower

"Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin... into the future..."

Our friend Adam Lawrence, ex-SALTer extraordinaire, visited us last weekend which turned out to be a major blessing for various reasons. He helped us around the house a lot; carrying buckets of water for me and helping me speed clean the house when at one point we thought we might unknowingly be hosting a surprise baby shower, AND he served as our unofficial photographer for the weekend; taking photos of various neighbors, the market where we always go but have never managed to get any pictures of, and most importantly the not-so-surprise baby shower which turned out to be at somebody else’s house after all, Gracias a Dios. Plus it was just great to see him again and share some good conversation.

With just a few days left of work and our house in packing/sorting shambles, it’s really starting to feel real that we will be leaving Tegucigalpa next Monday. It’s been so nice to spend some time with people at various “going-away” type events; first the baby shower on Friday and then a grill-out with Andrew’s co-workers on Sunday. The baby shower was a total riot and unlike any I’ve ever been to in the states: it included group games that involved a lot of screaming and jumping, good food and cake, and (the best of all) some really great guitar playing and singing by a father-son duo from our church. What it did not include was a lot of presents, which made my comfort level go way up. Juanito, my boss Juan’s son who is our age, was visiting from D.C. where he lives with his wife and paints and makes music, and the two of them performed a lot of beautiful, old campesino songs, most of which I’d never heard before. Sometimes everyone else joined in and sometimes just the two of them sang, their voices harmonizing over their two guitars while the rest of us sat transfixed. They sang and sang, and to my surprise it was soon long past our normal 9-ish bedtime and I was left wondering, “Why couldn’t we have had these kinds of gatherings all year???”
Sometimes it isn’t until the very end when we can begin to fully appreciate what we are leaving behind.

You can click HERE to view some of Adam’s photos from the weekend. Below are a few highlights.

Adam Lawrence is in the middle. Our last official guest in Honduras!!

Church friends at the baby shower. Lourdes, on the left, was our host.

Juan Hernandez and his son Juan Ernesto, taking a breather during the singing. As the president of the library board of directors, Don Juan is my boss... I've known him all year and had no idea he could play the guitar and sing so well.

Andrew's co-workers on revistazo.com. A pretty fun group of folks - after spending just one afternoon with them I could see how Andrew gets to learn so much more "caliche", or slang, than I do. Claudia, on the left, hosted lunch for everyone.