Journey of a Thousand Miles: Conversation With Evan

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Conversation With Evan

Following is a conversation that took place in the car:

Me: Tomorrow is your school Christmas party!

Evan: What do you mean?

Me: Tomorrow is your Christmas party at school.

Evan: What do you mean?

Me: I mean that tomorrow at school you're having a party.

Evan: What kind of party?

Me: A Christmas party.

Evan: Oh...Is tomorrow the next day?

3 comments:

Nathalie said...: I love it. Can't wait to see these little guys soon.
Rod; December 16, 2009 at 9:43 PM
Twila said...: broke out in a lol !!! love it I too can't wait to see you all.; December 16, 2009 at 11:09 PM
Dave & Gloria said...: Karen, just how are you going to explain all the family get-togethers, 2 with 1st cousins, 1 with 2nd cousins, and they are all "continuing" parties, not the kind that last for one short hour. Have fun! One of the many relatives excited about your arrival... in too many days away yet! "your mom", as the Evan said one day when I called for you.; December 18, 2009 at 1:57 PM

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"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

July 1, 2008
This journey so far has taken me one thousand and four miles from my hometown, but I’m having trouble putting my finger on the single step that began it all. Was it Monday afternoon at the border when they gave me my official document allowing me to pass? Was it Saturday morning when we started the car and drove out of Goshen in our funny little caravan? Was it in February when we came up to Red Lake for a job interview at the hospital? Was it two Christmases ago being up here with Kendall’s family and all of us rating our desire to live up here? (I can’t say my number on a scale of 1 – 100 was high, but it was the highest of all the in-laws, so I guess I’m the chosen one.) Was it three years ago almost to the day that Kendall first said, “What if we’d move up here?” (I tried to ignore that one for several months, thinking surely it would go away.) Or was it June 10, 2000 when I married Kendall and made some solemn promises before God and all these witnesses? Was it a night before Kendall and I were married when we talked about moving to Red Lake? (It was a far off and romantic possibility at that time.) Or was it living in and visiting different cultures at different times in my life? Could the first step have been when my parents brought me as a baby to this same area for a year of voluntary service? (Kendall wasn’t born yet, but I surely saw his parents as they chatted with mine from time to time.) What about when my dad lived on a nearby reserve for two years before he was married? Or when my mom visited this town with her family as a teenager? Or maybe it had something to do with choices my grandparents made? Or other ancestors farther back?

At any rate, moving into this house where I slept for a few weeks as a baby and where my dad stayed as a teenager, has made me very aware of roots. And how they affect our lives and choices and passions.

I suspect there is no single step that began our move a thousand miles away from Indiana. It seems, rather, to be a coming together of so many different factors. (Not the least of which is marrying a man who has taken this land as a very part of his being. And for all the ways I can tease him and get annoyed at some of his woodsman ways, I really do mean that in a reverent and respectful way.)

So here we are, a thousand miles from nowhere. (Oops…I meant a thousand miles from Goshen.) I know that we safely made the journey here, but mostly our journey is just beginning. And mostly I’m excited.

Journey of a Thousand Miles

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Conversation With Evan

3 comments:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

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