big jim's departure/faces of pakistan

Well, Big Jim should be on his way from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi at the moment. We left the house for the airport just before 3 yesterday afternoon, and he will arrive in Islamabad at 3 in the morning tomorrow....long, long trip. Yesterday was a flurry of activity as Big Jim finished packing, assembled the bookcase we bought Friday (after searching in about eight or so furniture shops, we stumbled on the newly opened Leroy Merlin [which may be the silliest named store I have ever seen] by the Malaga airport. LM is a great find, sort of an upscale Home Depot), sent e-mails, and walked the pups one last time on the goat track. He made me breakfast (grilled cheese and tomato) using my early birthday present---a George Foreman-like electric grill. I have been wanting one of these for ages. :-) While he scurried around packing, I did my best to keep out of his way and busied myself by puttering and reading his journals from his first two months in Pakistan. The dogs, well aware of what suitcase packing represents, sat like bookends on the sofa, ears and tails down, not wagging. Their food went untouched all day. I know how they felt; unable to face lunch, I stuffed just a couple mandarinas in my coat pockets as we went out the door. But rest assured I am doing okay. I allow myself to be sad about Big Jim's departures for a day or so, and then I get back to a routine, which lately has been a whole lot of nothing as you well know. C. is still walking the dogs, until my next doctor's appointment Wednesday, but I am taking over the cooking. I have some beef cubes that I plan to put in the slow cooker to make a stew for later today. Just simple things to start that don't require lots of prep work or heavy lifting from the oven. The twelve days passed quickly, but they certainly were lovely ones. I know I have said this before, but it is so nice to see my husband happy and confident again, back to his old self. And A.'s visit was so important to him. A. had a difficult time dealing with his parents' divorce, but at 22 is now his own person and is beginning to understand for himself the reasons why their marriage did not work. So despite my current, temporary sadness, it is important to remember the words of Thorton Wilder, and that is "just to enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate." When I returned from the airport yesterday, I began to sort through the thousands of photos Big Jim left behind. I leave you today with the first installment.














hasta pronto, mylifeinspain