Thank you, my friends, for your wonderful words, condolences, and most of all, for your loving presence in my life. My great aunt went out in a style that she would have appreciated, which was surrounded by handsome men. They were carrying her casket, of course, but I doubt that distinction mattered much to her. It was a wonderful trip back to east Texas and I'll have more to say about it later. Right now, I'm still percolating and wondering on it. I'll say this, though--I am one lucky gal to have the family that I do.
In the meantime, I've lost my groove with the China trip. My mother & sister are due to arrive home this weekend, and I welcome their return. I've missed them. One of the odd things about being at my aunt's funeral was being there without the majority of my family. Two of my brothers and I represented our branch, but under normal circumstances there would have been at least 10 of us present. It was a new experience to serve as social chairperson, liaison and general Adult when normally I would have spent my time sneaking extra pieces of cake and hiding out in the backyard. Life is, as always, full of surprises.
Back to topic, though, there is one last thing I want to cover on China. The ladies have spent a number of days cruising down the Yangtze River, which I think must be a fascinating and eye-pleasing experience.
It looks stunningly beautiful. It's no stranger to controversy, either; you may have heard of the Three Gorges Dam Project underway there. Once completed, it will displace 1.25 million people and submerge 13 cities, 140 towns, 1,352 villages and many archaeological sites. At 1.5 miles long, it will create a lake that is 20 miles in length and equal in size to Singapore. Good golly! It's an overwhelming mental image. Tomorrow I'll track down a few more details and pictures for you so that you can impress people with your knowledge of international issues while at cocktail parties. This is assuming, of course, that you're not too drunk from your fourth Appletini to form syllables. Hey, I'm not here to judge.
Thank you again for your kind support--it's good to be back!
2 comments:
China is fascinating But I can't wait to hear about East Texas...
Welcome home! Hope all goes well for you these last frantic days of the school year and then you should enjoy a few appletinis yourself as you regale us with more stories about China. I'm just trying to figure out where they're going to PUT all those displaced people. The place is chock-a-block full of folk as it is.
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