And then, AMC, Jordan and I went to Las Vegas for the World Rugby Tournament. AMC and Jordan lived in a village in Fiji for a summer and taught art and music at a school nearby. I've never been technically on the island of Fiji, but, I'm pretty sure that the stadium transformed into a travel machine and we were there last weekend.
Somehow, we found ourselves in the second row of the largest group of native Fijian fans. They are the most happy and truly sweet people I've ever met in my life. To be apart of a "tribe" for one whole day and night was such a warm, contented feeling. They laugh heartily, big and often. Every single thing they say, they start cracking up laughing together! When team Fiji ran onto the field for the first time that day, the sweet woman next to us yelled, "I AM SO HAPPY!!" She meant it. The boys know some Fijian words so that created a connection early on. I guess they figured if they knew the language, we belonged in some way.
oh to belong!
I officially desire to adopt Fijian culture....
-the three children in front of us were so well-behaved. Content for 9 hours at a Rugby tournament without ANYTHING. (sat in their seats with no games, technology) amazing parenting....
-if you are a single woman, you wear a flower behind your right ear, if you are married- the left. so sweet.
-it's a matriarchal culture... the women rule but almost unnoticeably. the men seem to like being able to sit back and relax. but, when things need taken care of- they are the first to react.
-they seem to be so used to being so close physically that when they are bumped (like with my poster) there's no use for I'm sorry or Excuse me, they don't seem to feel it, or mind.
so, what is Rugby?
I had no clue what Rugby was all about until last weekend. Here are the basics I picked up:
-same as American football, but with no pads and no 'downs' or break in play. it is a continuous 14 minute game. so intense!! i love it.
It just so happened that my other Grandma was staying with her cousin for three months near Vegas. She was ready to go back to Indiana and move her things out of her storage unit and into a cozy apartment. (She had been living with my Aunt and in Florida part time until then.) I decided that since I have the freedom right now, I would fly back with her on the plane and move her into her new place. It was so good to spend time with my family back there. Sometimes it's so confusing to decided where I'm from. When i'm in Florida, I feel like that's home. And when in Michiana, I realize those roots too...it's the john mellencamp/tom petty in me. oh well... all i know is, my Midwestern accent is recharged these days.
Being there unpacking my Grams was the perfect way to be with her, it turns out. As we unpacked her life, it was just us. TV and Internet hadn't been installed yet so, we got the opportunity to do our favorite activity together, talk and talk and talk. We always reminice about decorating the outside of her florida house every christmas, with Kenny G's christmas album blasting through the open windows,. And she always gives me advice on some part of life that I am experiencing. This time, she reminded me to always stay affectionate with AMC. She reminded me never to hold back love and attention as time goes by. She encouraged me to be a loving wife, and made me excited to know what that four letter word feels like. My family up there is comprised of all females, it is so refreshing to be surrounded by so much free emotion.
The first few days back, I felt like Humpty Dumpty. A leg and elbow were still in Las Vegas, while my head was in Indiana, my heart was back with AMC, but that's about all. I tried hard to make the adjustment quicker- so much more would have been accomplished but, I needed time to allow all parts of myself to convene in this timezone, in this life.
I worried for a second that maybe I'd never come back to this blog. I wondered if the ideas that swirled like a snowglobe in my mind, would ever settle into a rhythm capable of being decoded with language.
And then......phew........just like Grandma Bonnie said, there was no choice-
I had to.
The sweet obligation I feel most grateful for reminds me of something a priest said during Sunday mass in an old, regal English church in Oxford the summer I was there.
"May the fountain within the desert of your heart, spring forth."
