My mind keeps going back to Thanksgiving.

We spent it alone as a family, like I said.

But there was something I didn’t mention. It happened early in the wee hours of the morning. We sent Joseph&Tait on their way

                                                              home.

To Maasailand. Kenya. East Africa.

     They are Maasai.

 

We prayed before they left. In a circle.

          Holding hands.

In Kimaasai. In Kiswahili. And in English.

                                        (not at the same time.)

 

School had closed. It was time for Tait to go back home. To trade her top bunk bed and soft blankets for dried cowskin and a shuka. To trade her warm shower & shampoo for a basin of water which was carried on her own back from the source over a mile away. To trade indoor plumbing for a ditch. I know this exact ditch. Very well. I’ve used it.

           Don’t use it at night, though.  

                                

                              There are hyenas nearby.