The Great Adventure: Episode 9

As I grow older, I become more conscious of how all beings are connected and how difficult it is to maintain those connections. In my particular situation, this difficulty is compounded by personality, distance, and time zones. I cannot (or will not) comment on my personality, but I definitely feel the effects of the "tyranny of distance", as the Australian historian so eloquently put it. And a three hour time difference does not seem like much until you realize that people are trying to balance busy careers and hectic personal lives.

Of course, distance will increase and the variance between time zones will soon grow larger. There is now less than a week until I depart for Tanzania. I spent much of the weekend speaking with family members, since it will be months -- literally -- until I speak with them again. I talked to my mother and father, my sister, and both brothers over the course of the weekend.

For the most part, the telephone calls were nothing out of the ordinary. With one exception, we concentrated on how they were doing, what their kids were up to, and how my preparations were coming along. I heard different versions of the same story a few times, which is to be expected and even a little reassuring. All in all, they were the sort of simple conversations that one has with adult siblings and parents, and I know that even though I will be half a world away, I am still part of a network.