Deep Waters

Golden tones radiated as the sun set. 

Cows were washed in the ocean.

And the last of the dhow boats pulled onto shore.

After our dessert picnic, they raced down to the waves

Looking through pictures later that night, I noticed something that made us laugh. Can you see what what Little A is doing? She has her nose plugged. She’s so grossed out by the smell of seaweed, she calls this the “smelly beach”. A friend recently described our girls as “deep waters” because emotionally, they process things sensitively and so deeply. Little A has a tough time fully enjoying this vacation because every vacation she has ever known has involved extended family. 

This picture accidentally captured where she is at right now. Witnessing a beautiful sunset on the Indian Ocean, in the arms of her beloved Daddy and she can’t get over the smell. She is so, so homesick for the USA. The stuff doesn’t matter but the people mean everything to her. The places she called home. The security she felt in our old routines, in our church. Her memory is astounding but it is a traitor as she remembers so much what she loved and now lost, she feels she can’t control what’s happening and is slow to open up again. She does so, reluctantly, out of obedience but with a grief in her little heart.

She did lose her self in the moment eventually, just giggling about the present, reveling in the moment, not in the smell.

 We are navigating some deep waters.