Dear ECS,
Welcome back to Addis Ababa to you and your lovely mom! You
guys just got back from 2+ weeks in America with our family and friends. The return has been wonderful, for all
concerned, including your nannies and our driver. Several of them have said over the last
couple of days how happy you are and how happy that makes them to see you
joyous upon returning home.
I am pretty confident you are happy to be back, as last
night we were hanging out by the fire and you looked mischievously at mom and
me and said “I am SO happy right now” followed by the gem of “I love whole
family.” Me too, and I wish I could have
told you those feelings in me, and your mom, in such a succinct and perfect
statement.
Being apart was not great for your ol’ dad, but at this
point it is a kind of normal. And
knowing that you were having such a great time in Germany, Colorado, Utah, and Maine
made things easier. That would have been
quite the year for me as a 3 year old, but for you it is just August. Or just part of August.
Your trip to America was ameliorated for me by doing some
travel as well in the region, first a great group trip back to the Tigray
region of Ethiopia with stunning rock churches and huge vistas. In Tigray, we ate great food
and observed a blood moon in a place with basically no light pollution.
A personal highlight was standing on the edge of this huge cliff overlooking miles and miles and having this primal urge to scream from every fiber of my being. So I did. And that feeling has stayed with me somehow for the last 3+ weeks. Pretty cool. And then last weekend I went on a solo trip to Uganda, mostly because I had never been there and heard good things. Also because your mom had been already and was not super keen on going back when we still have a lot of new places to explore.
A personal highlight was standing on the edge of this huge cliff overlooking miles and miles and having this primal urge to scream from every fiber of my being. So I did. And that feeling has stayed with me somehow for the last 3+ weeks. Pretty cool. And then last weekend I went on a solo trip to Uganda, mostly because I had never been there and heard good things. Also because your mom had been already and was not super keen on going back when we still have a lot of new places to explore.
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| Uganda vs Morocco rugby match |
It is funny to look at the calendar and see we are half way
through August. Where did the summer
go? Part of that probably comes from the
fact that “summer” in Addis is the rainy season and hence doesn’t feel summery
most of the time. The summer here is
more like the other 9 months. But also
it is time passing quickly, for pretty much great reasons of adventures big and
small, great community and friends for you and your parents, fulfilling work
for mom and dad, and stability at home.
We are past our halfway point in Addis and looking in
earnest about what is next. That process
still has to play out, but I can remember so clearly you and I arriving in
Addis the first night way back in June of 2017, getting off the airplane and
eventually to our house. To this very
living room where I write this with the fire crackling, and so many fond memories for all of us. None of us knew what to expect and what was
to come here in Ethiopia. And now we are
closer to the end of our time here than the beginning. I would love to know how you perceive time at
your tender age of three and whether it feels like a long time here in Addis
Ababa. That seems fundamentally
unanswerable, but we do know you have been living life to the fullest and enjoying
your life here in Africa. Your mom and
dad can certainly say the same. Whole family.
love,
dad
