There's Still Hope!!

How many of you have had conversations with your friends hypothesizing how crazy things will be when our children are growing up? Well, after hanging out with my girlfriend's 12-year-old son, I'm convinced that there's still hope! It had been a while since I saw J., but we had time to catch up as we waited for his mother who had been held up in a meeting.

If you are like me, you have completely forgotten what ages correspond with what grades--for inquiring minds, 12-years-old = 8th grade.

So, the first thing J. told me was that he had just won the school Geography Bee and last week he won the History Project Competition. On April 4th, he'll compete to be 1 of 33 DC youth vying for a spot in the National Geography Bee!! Honestly, J. totally blew me away. He is fascinated by every subject and loves learning new things.

I was trying to help him memorize countries and capitals and told him that it would be easy to remember that the capital of Uganda is Kampala b/c that's where I'm from!! His mother informed me today that he told her he will always remember the capital of Uganda b/c he has a friend (me) from there. :-)

J. was quizzing me on things like who was the 43rd President of the U.S and how many knots are in a league? Ummmmm.... yeah. In a way, I felt like I was working on a Mensa quiz, but was also digging the challenge. We played a math game and hangman -- it has been I while since I've played hangman, so I needed a quick refresher. The word that J. selected was, 'antidisestablishmentarism.' If you can imagine, I had a bit of difficulty guessing this word.

The bottom line is that J. is an extremely well-rounded, independent, intelligent, loving kid that is not too cool to say, "I love you mom" in public. When I was in 8th grade, my priorities were a bit different, so it's nice to see that with every generation of youth, there are always those special kids that go against the grain.

The world better watch out for J., that's all I'm saying.

Challenge for Love, Life and Work Readers: What does antidisestablishmentarism mean?

This Crazy, Beautiful Life

This week has been unusually tough for me because I found out sad health news about a dear, family friend. It really puts life into perspective, especially the reality that my parents' generation is beginning to experience deteriorating health and even death.

When I received the phone call from my mom on Tuesday afternoon about Uncle K., I just went numb. I was sitting in my office with my intern and all I could do was continue our conversation where we left off. I was in complete disbelief --how could this happen??
Why must he be 1 of only 2% of the entire population who has this type of cancer?
Why has it already metastasized, and the fact that it is a cancer of the blood, chemotherapy won't help anyways?

Sometimes, there are things in this world that we will never understand.

But, as I talked with my mom after work, I realized that there was beauty in this sad story, too. Uncle K. has been a part of my family's life as long as I can remember. For the past 20 years, my family has spent holidays with his family--alternating Thanksgiving at our house and Christmas at their house and so on. Of course, once all the children left the home, holidays became a bit more sporadic, but the parents always continued to get together on weekends.

And, most recently, my husband and I asked Uncle K. to play a major role in our wedding. When we got engaged, I wanted my husband to see my hometown again. Well, immediately when Uncle K. and Auntie B. heard that we were coming to town, they decided to throw an impromptu engagement party for us. They came over dressed to the nines in traditional Ugandan attire and gave us blessings for our lovely news! So, when the time came for us to begin planning the Ugandan introduction ceremony, which occurs 6 months prior to the wedding, we knew that we'd ask Uncle K. to serve as my husband's family's spokesperson.

So, the next few months, my husband had phone conference calls with Ugandan and Rwandan elders, learning the ins and outs of our upcoming ceremony. He also had the opportunity to get to know Uncle K. better. So, when the 'Kwanjula" rolled around, Memorial Day weekend 2007, it was the most beautiful event ever!! Everyone was dressed in traditional attire and with the traditional food, music, customs and people --we might as well have been in Kampala, Uganda! Looking back, it is such a blessing that Uncle K. played such a prominent role in my wedding. And, of course, Uncle K. and Auntie B. and some of their children were in attendance at our wedding this past October.

My family has never been big on family videos, and the few events they have recorded have become "Lost Tapes." However, our Kwanjula and wedding are both recorded, so it will be so nice to share this footage with Uncle K.'s family and many others.

I refuse to talk about Uncle K. like he's gone, because he's not. He just has a heck of a challenge ahead of him, and has been blessed to be surrounded by so many people who love him. I love you Uncle K. Be strong!!