the day i turned 31 we were stopped by chinese customs agents who went through our suitcases claiming they were looking for "magazines." we didn't have any. once they were satisfied, one of the agents said to us, "you are tourists?" we said, "yes." he said, "welcome to china" in a way that sounded both friendly and ominous. we just smiled and walked away. quickly.
the day i turned 31, we visited the sun and moon pagodas in guilin and went to an acrobat show (term used loosely).
the day i turned 31 we bought two pieces of individually wrapped cake and, after 15 minutes of gesturing to communicate that we wanted them for takeaway (we finally resorted to pointing to the phrase in our mandarin-english phrase book) we took them back to our hotel room and celebrated. we even splurged on a soda from the minibar.
the thing i learned this year is that even the worst most hard and horrible thing i can imagine, if it happens, can be endured and, actually, endured well. my goal for the next year is to avoid living in fear of the next worst most hard and horrible thing that might be around the corner and instead enjoy the wonderful, happy and good things that make up the bulk of my life. realistically speaking, bad and hard things are inevitable. so really there is no sense in being worried about and braced against them all the time. especially because good things are inevitable, too. and i certainly have been blessed with more than my fair share of those.
1 comment:
Man, that last little paragraph was something I have needed to hear for a LONG LONG LONG time. thanks for the great perspective and for posting all the pictures of China!
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