Well, it’s been another full week in Almagro, my urban
hometown on the banks of the Plata River. I had a visitor from the US, who came
bringing a suitcase full of goodies from home: pillowcases for the seminarians,
marshmallows, my favorite green sweater, gum, and, the ‘gift that will keep on
giving’, a waffle-maker. Needless to say, we were all thrilled and gorged on
way too many sweets, I got to show off Buenos Aires, and after pretending to be
a tourist again devoured the notes and letters when I should’ve been a better
hostess. It was like an extended vacation in some ways, and having it end at
the airport last night was a bit of a shock. “You look like a ghost today,”
observed Taty, my across-the-hall neighbor.
I feel like a bit of a ghost, actually. With my height, I
seem to have inherited some melancholy from my dad’s side of the family, and
although I have enough humor in me to never get truly depressed, I am feeling
pretty down today. I remember a sign tacked up in Ani’s kitchen that originally
read ‘Sadness is forbidden in this house,
because the joy of the Lord is our strength’, but was later edited to say
that ‘God created emotions, Jesus felt them
deeply- it’s okay to feel upset sometimes…’
So yeah, today I feel sad, and that’s okay. I am tired, sensitive,
sore and craving some alone time. And yet, seminary life in a big city doesn’t
offer much space to brood. No matter how ecstatically great I feel or how
lacklusterly ‘meh’, life goes on. The sun keeps rising, the clouds keep
covering it, and the colectiveros
(bus drivers) stop for no pedestrian; they’re kind of terrifying that way,
actually. The rhythm of life zooms on, and somehow, by the grace of God and a
spoonful of Nutella, I keep up with it.
I have a vague suspicion that I’m not the only one who has
had a sad day, that I am not the only ghost to walk this city. Life and the colectivero stop for no one on its
streets. But thankfully, I do not wander it alone.
And now, before a) you worry more or b) I sound cliché, I
think I’ll go for a walk, pray, and watch Ferris Bueller. Perhaps in that
order.
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