Thursday, March 2, 2017

My Mom's Favorite Month

This post is part of the Slice of Life March Challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.
Check it out and join us.
March is my mom's favorite month. 

Ask her, she will tell you it is true (or at least she will during March when she is thinking about it). My brothers may think I am overstating things (my birthday is in March), but she tells me so every year. I think it has something to do with her granddaughter (us too?) living nearly 8,000 miles away and during March I post a Slice of Life each day on this blog.

This year I didn't expect slicing exuberance from her since she will be with me the entire month and on into April. (I joke that I gave up my guest room for Lent.) Nevertheless, it has been expressed once again. (Now I wonder if she is expecting more than cameos in these posts.)

She arrived last night and is now off having adventures while we are all at school. Perhaps I should get her set up with her own blog. She is completely capable - both of the writing and the technological aspects. This year could be the perfect year since I know she is having moments that she is sharing with people back home.

Having a visitor always helps me see our current host country in a new light, whatever that country may be. When someone new comes there are things you think to share with them, perhaps prepare them for. On the other hand, there are things that have become so second nature that we no longer notice them as being noteworthy. She pointed out to me that I had prepared her well for her journey to our house except one thing. I wracked my brain trying to guess what the one thing would be, certain it was something obvious. She gave me a moment, but nothing came to mind. 

"How long the drive is from the plane to the terminal." 

Ah! It can be a REALLY long bus ride. Jeddah, where she landed, has two airports and one runway. Basically all planes stop on the tarmac somewhere and transport passengers by bus. You may read that Jeddah has two 'terminals' (four, actually, but we aren't going to discuss the VIP nor the Hajj terminals at this point). While technically they are two terminals since they exist on the same piece of land, they are 15 km apart. You either drive to one or the other. This statement is true when departing by car or arriving by plane - you either drive to one or to the other - and five years of using this airport has dulled me to the novelty of it.

2 comments:

  1. This is to verify my daughter's statement that I do love March. Yes, birthdays to celebrate (Kristi's and her step brother Eric's - on the same day no less) and Jim's and my anniversary (it was 30 years ago that we created our new family). BUt the March slices are special. And to speak to today's, another way that Kristi's change of schools and thus host country has affected me, is that I see similarities from country to country especially since they have been in the Middle East for nearly 12 years. And to expand that, not only do you become aware of those aspects that are alike but also the differences - a way of expanding our understanding of the world.

    But the challenge to blog . . . I will stick to my quilting and write my travel emails and FB posts with no pressure for an everyday creation.

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  2. Yay! I love your post, Kristi, but your mom commented!!! YAY!!! I love hearing about where you are and I hope you write more about that in future slices. Enjoy your time with your mom! (And I hope your mom changes her mind and starts to blog. That was a terrific comment!!!)

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