Election Reflections

It's been quite a week with half the nation crying out with cheers of jubilation while the other half simply cries.  We were privileged to be invited to an early morning breakfast hosted by the US Ambassador to Sweden, Mr. Mark Brzezinski.  Admittedly, it was crazy waking up at 3.00 a.m., getting ready for work and heading out the door at 4.15 a.m.  The city was dead quiet and we discovered that even the subway doesn't open until just before 5.00 a.m.  We jumped in a cab and drove through the quiet streets up to the Hilton Hotel in Stockholm.  While the city was sleeping, the hotel was alive with guests pouring in for this event.  It was almost all Swedes, which we found very interesting.  The big press outlets were there and the event itself was bi-partisan.  Upon arrival we were greeted with life size cardboard cut outs of both President Obama and Governor Romney.  Romney/Ryan and Obama/Biden signs and paraphernalia dotted the walls.  It was a festive, electric environment and by that time of the morning, results from the US were pouring in.  CNN was being broadcast on hundreds of TV's strewn throughout the area and in the large auditorium where panel discussions were also being held.  The only mistake we made was waiting for the ambassador to speak while seated in the auditorium.  We discovered too late that he was making his speech out in the hall where all the press were gathered!  Even so, we were privileged to have a front row seat for a panel discussion that was held with him and 3 others regarding the road ahead for a re-elected Obama.  It was pretty fun to be at such a gathering and for us, as Obama supporters, we were thrilled when at 5.17 a.m. the election was called for Obama.  Of particular note was the way in which we were all buried in our phones!  We were posting on Facebook and watching the other comments from around the world.  We were receiving texts and sending emails, curious about how people were reacting and watching the mood of the country.  In a word, it really was great fun to be there.  We watched day break over our fair city.  
I celebrated on Wednesday with unabashed joy on my Facebook page but on Thursday felt compelled to send a reconciliatory message out to my friends who were smarting from the results.  I've been on the losing side of elections as well, and know how devastating one can feel when your hopes don't come to fruition.  That said, we do have to find a way to move forward and I hope that Obama and Congress can figure out a healthy way to get the US back on track.
Thursday night we had a church board meeting.  Our board is made up of people from Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ghana, Kenya, Switzerland, Pakistan, India, the United States.  The man from Zimbabwe was slated to do devotions and he began by quoting Matthew 5:9: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.  He then went on to congratulate the US on a peaceful and open election.  He commented that he was so impressed by the vigorous debate but lack of hatred in our process.  He was impressed by the debates, that they were hot and lively but lacking in mean-spiritedness.  Of course, the Americans among us were flabbergasted when we heard him as most Americans have felt that this was one of the dirtiest and meanest campaigns ever witnessed.  But his words touched me because his story is that he has worked for the Movement for Democratic Change (DMC) in Zimbabwe for years.  He has been jailed and tortured because he stood against Mugabe.  His life has been endangered because he has fought for democracy to reign in his own nation.  He was so blown away that Romney would give a gracious concession speech and not fight the results and threaten to stage to coup and that Obama stated in his victory speech that he would like to sit down with Romney in the coming weeks to discuss matters that need attention.  This is unheard of in his country.  He was so appreciative of my country, that we model the very heart of democracy, vigorous debate, fair elections, acceptance of the outcome without civil war or jailing the opposition.  It was an encouragement to me, that whatever flaws our system has, whatever you feel about the outcome, our election process does indeed reflect a truly democratic nation.  And living in a democracy means that you fight hard for your positions, vote for what you believe, but also accept, that at the end of every election, the will of the majority reigns, no matter if you agree with it or not.
I am not naive.  Our nation has big issues in front of itself and if the President and Congress cannot figure out a way forward, we will continue to struggle.  Let's hope that our public leaders will truly govern for the good of the nation and not simply to foil the opposition.  

Weekend in London: Part II

One of the great things about being in London are the pubs.  They sport fantastic names like The Carpenters Arms, Monkeys Forehead, The Hunter's Lodge and The Fox and Hounds.  They are cozy, beautiful, charming places pouring good drink and serving tasty food.  So for my first lunch in London we ventured out to The Carpenters Arms, just a short walk from The American Church.  I ordered half a roasted chicken and fries.  Fries, as opposed to chips, are skinny french fries like we are used to other side of the Atlantic.  Chips are the thicker variety.  It was seriously the best chicken I've ever eaten in my entire life.  I'm really not sure what they did to it, but it fell off the bone, was deliciously moist throughout and served with a sauce that was heavenly.  I was fully satisfied with my meal but have to admit that I happened to see a dessert item on the menu that I could not pass up.  A salted caramel, chocolate and clotted cream tart.  I love all three of those items and really, you shouldn't leave Britain without having clotted cream at least once!  So I ordered it and ate it.  Luckily my colleagues helped me (very little but that is why there are 3 forks on the plate).  It was so out of this world crazy delicious that I can barely give description to how wonderfully tasty this dessert was.  I kind of went into a little food coma after I finished the whole thing, practically licking the platter clean since I wanted to get every last drip of caramel on the plate.  It was decadent and delicious.  A fine start to my weekend.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, two more pub visits were in my future before I ventured back to Stockholm (where we have some nice pubs but the cost of beer is ridiculous and they often don't pour the dry English apple cider like they do in England and the food is not as good).  Sunday night I landed at the Hunter's Lodge with my buddy Judy.  I ordered a chicken, leek and mushroom pie and was not disappointed. I forgot my camera so you'll just to trust that this chicken pot pie was every bit as good as you could only imagine.  A little malt vinegar on the chips, a plateful of peas and a Strongbow Cider made it just right.
Finally, before heading back to Heathrow for my flight home, we pulled into the Fox and Hounds, a beautiful place near Egham.  I was decidedly indecisive about what to order and one item definitely caught my attention: Bubble and Squeak.  Now many of us are familiar with the crazy names that British folks love to name their food: Bangers and Mash, Toad in the Hole and the ever famous Spotted Dick, but Bubble and Squeak was new to me.  Intrigued, I asked the waiter what it was and he told me that it came from Ireland (but I've since learned it is the entire UK as well) where they took all of the left over root vegetables from the Sunday dinner, fried them all together with potatoes and cabbage, threw an egg on top and called it lunch on Monday.  It gets its name from the sound it makes in the frying pan when everything is coming together.  It was all together too tempting to pass up, so I ordered it and I'm telling ya it was GREAT!  He assured me that they made their Bubble and Squeak from fresh vegetables, nothing leftover and it was super.  The poached egg on top was cooked to perfection.  I was impressed.  Yes, that's another brand of Cider lurking in the background and my friend Judy with her big 'ol hamburger and chips on the other plate.
I suppose we Americans have our own take on eggs and potatoes but I'm pretty sure we'd never be imaginative or brave enough to put an item such as Bubble and Squeak on the menu in a public house!
The other things that one must eat when in England are an egg salad sandwich (the best in the world) and I recommend finding a sticky toffee muffin somewhere.  Yes, I indulged in both.
But for sure, enjoy eating in a Pub a time or two...it's the way to go when in England. 

Weekend in London: Part 1

I just spent a wonderful long weekend in London.  I was asked by the American Church in London to come and speak at a women's conference they were hosting.  I know the pastor and his wife well and have been to this church on numerous occasions so I was happy to accept the invitation.  I built my talks around the theme of Strangers and Aliens and my basic premise was that we all have places of great alienation in our lives, perhaps geographically for those of us living in foreign countries, but also spiritually and emotionally, for example, my infertility being a place of great emotional alienation for me.  But, and here was my main point, the better we get at identifying these places of loss and "outsideness", the more God can use them in our lives to pull us closer to Him, which as Christians, should be our ultimate goal.  It was fun to put my thoughts together and a real joy to share them with a wonderful group of women.
Speaking of feeling displaced, I had a funny thing happen to me whilst there.  I walked into a coffee shop and ordered a coffee.  Whilst waiting in line to pay, I heard the clerk ask the woman in front of me to pay.  She did this in English.  And I thought to myself, wow, I wonder how she knew to ask her for money in English.  I wonder if she'll know that I speak English.  Then I remembered that we were in ENGLAND.  Duh.  Of course they were speaking English!  I am just so used to be surrounded by Swedish so even hearing the English was different for me.  I must admit, I loved being in an English speaking country, even though, in London, there are definitely words and accents that I sometimes do not recognize!
The entire weekend was a cozy time together and I enjoyed sharing my heart with a lovely group of women who gave their time to this gathering over the weekend.
My time with John and Julie, the pastor and his wife, was also very rich.  They have become very good friends over the years that we have been pastors of International churches and it was a pleasure to spend time in their home, get to know their delightful 12 year old son better, eat amazing and wonderful food, share great conversations and good laughs together.  It was great fun to be back in London again even though this time around I didn't really have time to do a lot of Londony things.  I did ride both the Tube and the red double decker busses.  As I was leaving the city to venture out to the English countryside, I was in a taxi heading to the Waterloo train station, and we drove across the Thames and to my left was St. Paul and to my right was Big Ben, the London Eye, and Parliament.  Quintessentially British and it made my heart sing a little!  

Celebrating A Championship: Part II

Last Friday night a huge crowd gathered at our high school stadium to remember the championship that my high school won in football 35 years prior.  It ended up being a wonderful affair, filled with great emotion and joy.  Over 55 players from that team were present and it was a real treat for me to see them interact with one another and with my father.  At half time, all alumni were welcomed onto the field while a special presentation was made on behalf of the championship team.

The whole gang at half time, with the team picture and trophy.

As part of the ceremony, my father's record was recited.  Even I was impressed!  I knew he was good, but seriously, he was really good!  Here are some stats:
Coach Ted "Moon" Mullen
Overall Winning Percentage: 73%
2 CIF Championships
6 CIF Championship Game Appearances
14 Playoff Appearances in 17 Seasons (.823 Playoff Appearance win average over 17 seasons.)
Never eliminated in the first round.  (14-0)

The year his team, Villa Park (VP) won the C.I.F. championship in 1977, this was the team record:
1977 Won 12, Lost 1
(6-1) 2^nd Place Century League
CIF Southern Conference Champions
VP: 22 Katella 7 W
VP:36 Canyon 7 W
VP:19 Santa Ana* 8 W
VP:21 Tustin* 0 W
VP:7 Santa Ana Valley* 9 L
VP:31 El Modena* 29 W
VP:21 Estancia* 0 W
VP:25 Foothill* 8 W
VP:17 Orange* 0 W
PLAY-OFF GAMES:
VP:31 ARLINGTON 6 W
VP:28 SAVANNA 14 W
VP:14 RIVERSIDE POLY 6 W
VP:21 LOS ALAMITOS 6 W C.I.F. SS Championship Game

The wonderful moment after they read the stats from my dad's career and the entire stadium cheered and cheered!
That's him in the brown shirt.

So you can see, there was much to celebrate and much joy to share!  Many of us had not seen one another since high school or if we had seen one another, it had been at a reunion or two.  It was neat to see the team spirit that the players from this team still shared. There really is something magical about sharing something significant like a sport's championship. 
One of the neat things was that my dad's entire coaching staff was there, except for one man who has passed on.  

The coaching staff from a program in 1977.  Gotta love the short shorts!  All of them were present at this reunion, except for the man to the left of my father's right! Sadly, he passed away a few years ago.

One of the players confessed to my dad that he stole his helmet after the championship game!  He had it with him!
The local paper even found it suitable to cover this event!  Click this link for the story.  
I find that simply remarkably, that after 35 years, these guys still want to share in this special time.  For me, it was a great time in my life, both as a high school student, but of course, as my father's daughter.  I saw old friends, neighbors who journeyed through the games with us, and of course my former classmates.  While reuniting with friends from long ago certainly has its odd points, the one thing that is very cool is that all the boundaries that get set up in high school get torn down.  Everyone is so gracious now.  Status, popularity, and coolness have all gone by the wayside.  Some people are bigger.  Some are smaller.  Some are bald.  Some are gorgeous.  Some are wildly successful others struggle.  Some of the crazy ones have found God and settled into a different way of life. Others are still looking for a good party.  In the end it didn't matter.  It was just great to see everyone again and marvel at how 35 years had gone by.  All of us who go to be a part of that magical season will always savor that moment for our class will always be the CIF Champions of 1977 and nothing on earth will ever change that reality.

We Bought A House

Last winter, on our annual trek to see my parents in Palm Springs, quite unexpectedly, we bought a house out here.  When my parents first moved out to the desert from Orange Country (1.5 hours from where I grew up) they moved to a golfing community called Mission Lakes in the town of Desert Hot Springs.

The view looking down our street.

The town itself is nothing special and has actually had some safety issues but the golfing community is a beautiful area that we have always loved.  The golf course is one of the best in the area and the best part for us is that it is totally affordable.

Hole No. 1

We loved coming out and staying with my folks and playing golf out here.  My parents moved off the course and down into Palm Springs about 13 years ago.  We would still venture up to DHS to enjoy the views and the golf.  Doug liked to look around the internet for properties just to see what was available and how the prices looked.  While browsing he came across this steal of a home and we decided that perhaps it would be a good time to look into making a retirement purchase!  One thing led to another and a couple days later we were homeowners!

The front of 8611 Warwick Dr.

This has been a big deal for us because we've never owned a home before.
We have always lived in church provided housing and this has been a bit of a concern for us.  One of the reasons that we were able to make this purchase at this time was because of a generous gift that Doug's sister Debbie left us after she died last summer.  Debbie was an incredibly generous person, always giving more to others than she ever wanted in return and it feels like it honors her legacy to have a home where we hope we can welcome others to enjoy our desert paradise.  We plan to make it available to friends and family at a reasonable rate so let us know if your travels take you to Southern California.  It's not fancy but it's fun.

The clubhouse at Mission Lakes

The house itself is a two bedroom, two bathroom place with an open plan layout for the living area.
You walk in the front door and the living room, dining area and kitchen area are all right there.

The open plan living area.

The living room

 The back bedroom used to be two rooms and the previous owners knocked out a wall and made a really nice master.

The master bedroom

Now there's this wonderful little nook off the bedroom.

The view into the bedroom from the backyard

The lovely sitting nook off the bedroom.  The french doors lead to the patio.

We installed french doors that lead right to the patio and sitting there in morning with the cool air coming in is just lovely.
The area is beautiful and the complex includes lit tennis courts, a swimming pool and jacuzzis, and of course the lovely golf course.

Gorgeous swimming complex

 When we were here in June we furnished the house, landscaped the front and put a covered patio on the back.  

The front yard.

The back patio

This time I installed an internet connection.  It's pretty much ready to be used so let us know if you'd like to give it a go!  It is located 15 miles north of downtown Palm Springs so you need a car when you are here.

The glorious view from the front of our house.

Just to be clear...we have no plans to move back to California right now!  Of course, we are trying to figure out how to spend as much time here as possible but we still have to work and still have a life and dog in Sweden that we need to tend to.

I love this little house!

But this has given us a bit of an anchor back in our native homeland and it has helped me to know that at least the hope and promise of returning to a warmer climate one day has come a bit closer to reality!

Celebrating A Championship

One of the reasons that I am here in California at this time is because tonight is a celebration of something big that happened in our lives 35 years ago.  After reaching the finals of the California Interscholastic Federation (C.I.F.) Southern Section (California's equivalent of a state championship since it is such a huge state), the previous two seasons and coming away with losses, in the autumn of 1977 the team once again made it to the finals and this time came away with a winning outcome! The game was played at Anaheim Stadium, home to the California Angels professional baseball team and it was a big deal to be there in that huge stadium!Why is this game so celebrated in our family?  My father, Ted Mullen, was the head coach of the team and I was a senior in high school at the same school, Villa Park High School.  
The school has never again won the title and this win was the sole time it achieved this great outcome.  Winning the southern section of the C.I.F. represented the pinnacle achievement for my father in his career and after losses in the previous two attempts, this win was perhaps even sweeter.
My dad's football coaching career was a family affair.  We were all involved, never missing games, riding the waves of victory, suffering the blues of defeat.  Fortunately, Ted did not lose many games so we didn't have to suffer through that depression very often!  But the autumn of 1977 was a special time for us.  The team was ripe for victory and was full of incredibly talented athletes.  Many of them were my close friends and peers from school so the sense of togetherness that pervaded the campus environment was quite special.  As Friday approached, the buzz grew louder and louder and the school along with the entire community began to turn their sights on the stadium lights.  Ever watch or read Friday Night Lights?  This was my life.
I was privileged to be a part of the pep squad that year as school mascot.  We were the Villa Park Spartans and our colors were blue, black and silver.  I'll never forget putting together my outfit.  I didn't exactly want to look like Spartacus but wanted it to be fun and memorable so I went with a silver lamé dress and a black cape with a bright blue lining.  The kicker came when I found some silver shoes that worked perfectly!  What a thrill it was to call cheers for that magical season, close to sidelines where I could at least sense the electricity on the field.
The amazing thing for me 35 years down the road is this simple fact: So many of the guys who played on that team still keep in touch with my parents.  The players speak so highly of this time in their life, giving praise to my father for the genius coach that he was, for the ways in which he led them to this great victory.  Their affection for my mother is a tribute to her involvement as well.  She was indeed my father's greatest fan, missing only 1 game in his entire career because she was too sick to get of bed.  My mom stood behind my father with great support only occasionally questioning why he didn't blitz more on defense!  The fact that she knew what a blitz was spoke to her deep knowledge of the game as well.
So tonight, 50-60 players from that team and countless others who were my peers in high school, cheerleaders, members of the band and drill team, coaches and neighbors who traveled through these Friday nights with us will gather at Fred Kelly Stadium, our home field, to enjoy a high school football game, between my high school, Villa Park and Foothill High School, incidentally, the only other school where my father won the same championship, to be recognized at half time for this great achievement now a long time ago.  Then we'll gather at a restaurant to share stories and reminisce about a special autumn and a football season that gave us much more than just a win.  The guys speak of the life lessons they take away from having been a part of Coach Moon's team and alway speak with such joy and admiration for the man I've always known as dad.  My one great regret in this life is that I never played for a coach as talented as my father and I never was part of a winning tradition like the one our football teams had.  But even so, I am grateful for the excitement and joy that we all shared by being part of my father's career as a high school football coach and easily celebrate the success he so clearly deserved.
Yes, tonight we celebrate a championship but I suppose for me, it's mainly about celebrating the champions I truly feel my parents are.  Their footprint on people's lives is so clear and it's humbling for me to see how these guys still love them, even after all these years.

Undocumented

What an ordeal the past 48 hours have been. I never ever thought that I would be the one who would face having to cope with a missing passport hours before I was scheduled for an international flight and yet, Tuesday night at 8.00 p.m. we realized that my passport was not where it should be. After tearing up the house numerous times, including even looking in the freezer and refrigerator(!), by about 1.00 a.m. I was coming to the sad reality that I would not be leaving for the US at 10.15 a.m. A variety of issues coursed through my mind but the loudest of them all was the voice screaming at me, “What have you done with your passport?!” I had no recollection of the last time I had handled it and thus could not figure out why it was not safely snuggled in its special little place in Doug's dresser. Then there was the matter of the flight that was departing in a few hours. I knew it was key to deal with this before the flight took off and yet I also knew that we had not purchased travel insurance, had not bought a refundable ticket, had not done any of the things that perhaps might be a wise idea but cost money and you think, why blow that cash? I'll never have a problem. Because I had booked with Travelocity, I had to work with them to figure this thing out. Fortunately they have a 24 hour support line but unfortunately Travelocity customer service is ranked #522 out of the 561 companies that have a CustomerServiceScoreboard.com rating with an overall score of 20.96 out of a possible 200 based upon 321 ratings. This score rates Travelocity customer service and customer support as Terrible. I have to concur with these thoughts as we received information that ranged from “If you do not get on that plane, you will lose your entire ticket. There is nothing we can do” to finally “You will get full credit for the ticket but when you rebook you will have pay a change and rebooking fee and of course, any change in the fare.” Fine. The latter suited me as I was really hoping that this ticket we had purchased wasn't going to be money down the drain.
After a night of very limited and not restful sleep, I rose in the morning to begin dealing with the passport issue. I have to say, when I crawled into bed that night, I felt a little weird. I said to Doug, “There's no way for me to leave Sweden right now. I have no papers.” When you live abroad, the ability to get to your loved ones in another country is a high value. At that time, I had no idea how long it would take the U.S. Embassy to process my papers so I felt a bit weird. It gave me enormous empathy for people who live in that in between place for their whole lives. Hardly a week goes by when we are not praying for someone who is seeking “permission to stay.” They have come as a refugee with no chance of returning to their homeland and yet, they have not been granted permanent stay in their new country. This is a very stressful place to be. I felt a tiny amount of that stress in the few hours I lived without a passport but I lived with it knowing that in due time I would be issued a new US passport, I had money to pay for the documents, late fees, phone calls, etc. and in the meantime had a job, a home, and stability. And I had legal status, just no proof of such. And yet it was still hugely stressful for me. I have gained an enormous amount of empathy for the people in our world who are living in between, for whom permanent stay or permission to stay is a hoped for yet often elusive goal.

I woke up Wednesday morning with one simple quest: Secure a new passport. I had found out from the U.S. Embassy that I needed a police report and new passport photos in order to request a new passport so my first stop was the police station. The police woman was incredibly kind and helpful and I could get photos taken in an automated photo booth at my subway stop. From there I went out to the U.S. Embassy, which is just a short drive from our house, and waited in the citizens of the US line. I was the only one in my line while the line for foreigners was substantially longer. Again, I was so grateful that I lived in a country where a good embassy exists and that I had access to it as an American living abroad. In the 14 years that I have lived here in Sweden, I have never needed the embassy for anything official! I was never so thankful for this place than I was on Wednesday morning. They processed me through and soon I was filling out the paper work for a new passport that they could issue the following morning. Wow. I couldn't believe it. That meant I could try to rebook my ticket as soon as Friday. Once I left the embassy knowing that 24 hours later I would have a new passport, I broke down into tears. I was so stressed out wondering what was going to happen and after securing the new passport, I just felt so much relief. It was far more important to me than I may have even realized, but I was also so grateful that it could be processed as quickly as it was. I drove to a friend's house who had pulled together a beautiful coffee time and it was refreshing to be received by her love and hospitality.

The next ordeal I had to face involved getting the flight rebooked which was harder than I realized. United wasn't easy to work with as the prices they were quoting me were double what the website was showing. Finally we made a decision to hang onto the credit and look for a brand new ticket that would better suit out needs. We eventually found a great flight, good routing, and a good price so we bought it but trying to make a new good decision about when to travel, what route, what price, etc. was super overwhelming for me. This whole process was so stressful for me. I'm not sure why I felt so panicky and overwhelmed. Nothing was life or death for me. In fact, in the midst of all the craziness I was feeling, I thought of a young family who have been through a terrible ordeal with their 8 year daughter whilst living in Sierra Leone. She contracted typhoid fever and was rapidly deteriorating. They had to figure out how to get her to a hospital in Ghana to stabilize her enough to finally get her to London for the desperate medical attention she needed. Now that is a stressful situation to be dealing with under duress! The kid is doing well at this point but I cannot imagine how those parents endured the stress they were under while trying to make really difficult travel arrangements while watching their daughter hover between life and death. And so now that my situation has been resolved and I have new travel plans that suit me well even though I had to cancel my stop in Chicago, as I look back on the past two days, I'm pondering why this whole situation was so stressful. Of course, any time we have plans in place and look forward to them, when they don't unfold as we had hoped it's tough. I guess for me I felt such a myriad of emotions, sadness and stupidity being at the top of the list. Mentally it was hard adjusting to thinking I was heading for a vacation in the sun and suddenly faced with staying put at work in a climate that is quickly losing daylight. And I really wanted to spend some time with my parents as both of them have significant health issues to deal with and I want to make every minute we have together count. In the midst of the craziness of not being able to find my passport, I lost my mind a bit. I allowed anxiety to grow large and grew uncertain about my ability to make good choices. Fortunately I was surrounded by a loving and patient husband and the care and empathy of good friends. I had to keep reminding myself that this was not a life or death situation, that I had choices, that money is only money and that our lives were not going to be in tatters if we didn't get this worked out and that even if I couldn't travel right now, I would be able to again in the near future. Even so, the stress that losing my passport and missing a flight has caused me has given rise to a variety of thoughts and feelings, but the most predominant is surely thankfulness. I am so grateful for the privileges I enjoy. And my empathy for those for whom life is not so easy has grown one hundredfold in the past 48 hours. Having resources, having community, having opportunities, having connections...it all makes a huge difference in the way in which we enjoy life. And when something trips up those of us with all of the above, it's stressful because it's a disruption but not because our very lives depends on it working out in a certain way. For others however who live in nations at war, corrupt government systems, countries without opportunities, undocumented refers to a way of life that must carry more stress with it than I ever realized.

Happily reunited with my new passport

Today I am in possession of my emergency issued passport and have a new ticket to fly to the land of my citizenship on Monday. My stress level is decidedly lower. But I am carrying in my heart, in a special way, those who live without proper papers in our world, knowing that the circumstances that landed them there are far more egregious than simply misplacing an important document and the hope for resolution of such much more complex than what I have been through over the past 48 hours. Say a special prayer today for all the undocumented human beings trying to find their way in a hostile world. Believe me, it is more stressful than you can imagine.