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So many times I hear people talking about what they are going to do when ... the reasons are endless. I know, because I have used them all myself. Not anymore!
Life is lived one moment at a time, and each moment is unique and priceless. Enjoy your moments.
Go ahead ... Jump in!
As I have said so many times, our children can be out best teachers. Today we decided to let my 20 year old lead the way on an adventure called letterboxing. She learned about it from a friend who learned about it from a friend… you get the idea. You can check it out on many sites, but this one seems to be very complete (http://www.letterboxing.org). After she explained it all to us, we decided what to use for our personal stamp. If you like the adventure and decide to keep going, the stamp you choose becomes your identity… and keeping your identity secret can add to the mystery. I almost used my Happy Monkey stamp, but decided that was too obvious.
My daughter had researched the letterboxes in our area and chose two that were nearby. We printed the directions, some are like puzzles and some are straighforward using landmarks and natural markers. Ours were the straight-forward variety. We set off to find the box with anticipation…
From the split in the road, we counted off 70 paces. There we saw the multi trunked tree on the left side of the road. Dan and Sarah climbed the bank to the back of the tree. Dan reached into the middle, lifted the rock, and there was the container. We all smiled ...
Mission Accomplished… almost.
Opening the container, we found a notebook that had been stamped by many other adventurers, so we sat and took our time reading the other names and admiring their stamps.
We stamped our notebooks with the stamp found in the container, and added our stamps to the notebook for future adventurers to see.
Above you can see a page from the notebook dated 3-2-08 and stamped by someone from McEwen, TN. There were stamps from people as far away as California. Letterboxing takes you to places you would otherwise never see. This particular place is right in my neighborhood, but I have never taken the time to go there…
and on the way back to the car, I saw something else I would never have seen…
The Letterboxing Trio
Wow…
You can go Letterboxing all over the world. Check out their website for a city near you… I have already printed clues for my upcoming trip to Chicago. Have fun!
Hi mom,
It always brightens my day when I wake up, and the first thing I do is read from you. I am sorry for the grief, but as u had said earlier everything happens for a reason. Do not let the grief overcome you coz Lane is resting peacefully. Our grief would disturb his rest. Be strong mommy. You can do it.
I met Lane and talked to him the very first day we were in boot camp, and he was very friendly to me. I thought it was really nice of him because you know with being a foreigner and having an accent. As some of the people say I was a little bit laid back and tried to keep to myself, but always Lane would come to me whenever we were free and ask me a lot about Kenya. We even started planning on how we would go together someday and buy houses and resale them later. It was amazing how we just clicked and had so much in common. We had goals....
Our friendship grew even more when we were first allowed to go and worship. I think that was the 2nd week of boot camp. They normally let you go for Sunday service but you gotta sign and hand in the names of those going and what specific service or religion they are going to. Now guess who used to write the names of the group we went to service with........ It was Lane. He was a leader in the making and some recruits kind of didn’t feel good about his ambition.
Anyway, he was my best friend, and we had a lot in common. We both loved this song “Come Now is the Time to Worship.” I believe you know it. And they had like a video playing as the song played. It was fun. Church was a big relief from the yelling and monotonous routines of basic training, but we were strong.
Now when it came to asking one another what job they had signed for in the Navy, I realized that Land and I were in the same rating-the Hospital Corpsman job. That made us even closer, in a good way.
On Sundays before or sometimes after church, Lane would come all the way from the other end of the hall where we used to sleep and come to my corner, and we would write letters home together even though I didn’t have anyone to write to at the moment. Lane asked me one day if I would write something to you all, and I think that is how I started knowing you and the rest…
He inspired me, and I inspired him. I felt so bad when I had been trying to help him with the running and he ended up having a problem and couldn’t make it, but he always showed the will to go on.
note: My son injured his leg 2 days before the end of Basic Training. He was kept in medical for a couple of weeks until they determined that the injury would require several months to heal. He was dismissed from Basic Training. He could have returned in 6 months, but would have had to start all over. Because of his heart defect, he had gone through a lot just to qualify, and the medical waivers required to go back would now include his leg. He decided not to go back… with great disappointment.
Joshua is the second born, the oldest son, in a family of six children – 3 boys and 3 girls.
We stayed in towns and later settled on a farm. My dad is a teacher and my mom is a housewife. We stay on an acre of land where we keep one cow, some sheep, chicken and turkey. We grow corn, vegetables and some flowers.
In 2003 I had joined the Makerere University in Uganda and I was taking a Bachelor of Arts majoring in tourism. During my second semester my uncle called me (he has an Uncle in Houston) and said I had won the lottery. If u go to travel.state.gov you will read more about the diversity visa program. I was so exited, and I had to stop going to school coz it would have been a waste of resources to complete a degree that wouldn’t help me here. Another reason would have been that my dad didn’t have enough money to c me through the university, but we were positive that they would be a way out. As a 1st borne in the family I was obligated to come and save the whole family. I have an elder sister, but in Africa they consider the boys to be of more value, coz they believe the gals will get married and belong to the other family. I have a bigger step brother but he kind of like decided to be on his own.
So...... my dad sat us down and explained the situation to the whole family and told them that we had to do everything to make sure that I come to America even if it meant selling everything we owned.
Kenya is peaceful at the moment. It is a poor country where close to 65% live under the poverty line. Most families live on a salary below $150 in a month, but we thank God. I work hard to see that my father gets a little extra money than what he was living on before I came to the states. I want him to be happy.
Many kids are on the streets and out of school because of poverty. Aids is another big blow in my country. The area I come from is a victim too. I am planning to start a small charity organization in my area for the orphans. My Dad had the same idea when I told him my plan. So we were thinking on the same lines.
See, many fortunate people from Africa don’t look back and help those who remained, but I am gonna take the challenge whatever it takes. I know God will see me through.
Filed Under: Personal
In the Happy Monkey June Newsletter, I explained briefly how I came to meet this fine young man from Kenya named Joshua Lecha through my son Lane when he enlisted in the US Navy. Our relationship has continued over the past couple of years, and I have learned a lot about his life and his native African culture. I have also learned about my son as he was seen through the eyes of another… This year my relationship with Joshua has taken on a new meaning, because this year my son died.
When Joshua began writing, he explained that he calls me “Mama,” because in his country “the mom to a friend is your mom.” This is Ubuntu in action. The Ubuntu philosophy is indigenous to Africa and represents a way of life based upon respect for others as human beings. Ubuntu defines the individual in terms of his/her relationship with others, so when Joshua calls me Mama, he is defining our interconnectedness and stating his respect for the universal Mother in me… and his role as the universal son.
There is power in a name- what we call ourselves and what others call us. I remember knowing I was in big trouble when my mother used my full name. I also remember when my sister would call me “honey bun.” It was her own pet name for me, no one else called me that, and it made me feel special. Being called Mama does pull up a universal identity. All mothers know what it feels like.
I remember the day I told the kids that I was taking a “mommy time out” and would not answer to MOM for about 15 minutes. My littlest one looked up and called me by my whole name… I had to laugh. To this day when we are in a crowd, she calls me by my whole name so that she can be sure and get my immediate attention in the sea of other “moms.”
Joshua calls my son Johny (his spelling). Calling my son Johny feels special not only because it is the diminutive form of his name and represents familiarity and affection, but also because we have always called my son Lane, his middle name. Before he entered the Navy, he decided to call himself by his first name, John. He named himself in a sense and was stepping into his adult life and separating from his childhood.
Reading Joshua’s letters have made me laugh, and they have made me cry. They have given me some answers, and they have filled me with questions. His letters have added to my life.
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