Reading in the St. Petersburg airport -
"When I packed my bags for Moscow, I somehow thought I was simultaneously wrapping twenty-one years of personal relationships into a box, tying it neatly with a ribbon, and setting it off to the side so that nothing would change in my absence. I didn't fathom that [people would die or give birth. That hair would turn gray]. I didn't consider [that people would change]. That's because true travel, the kind with no predetermined end, is one of the most selfish endeavors we can undertake - an act in which we focus solely on our own fulfillment, with little regard for those we leave behind. After all, we're the ones venturing out into the big crazy world, filling up our journals, growing like weeds. And we have the gall to think they're just sitting at home, soaking in security and stability. It is only when we re-open these wrapped and ribboned boxes, upon our triumphant return home, that we discover nothing is like we had left it before." - Stephanie Elizondo Griest, After Midnight (from A Woman's Europe)
On my iPod:
More Than You'll Ever Know – Watermark
Something brought you to my mind today
I thought about the funny ways you make me laugh
And yet I feel like it's okay to cry with you
Something about just being with you
When I leave I feel like I've been near God
And that's the way it ought to be...
'Cause you've been more than a friend to me
You fight off my enemies
'Cause you've spoken the Truth over my life
And you'll never know what it means to me
Just to know you've been on your knees for me
Oh, you have blessed my life
More than you'll ever know, yeah, yeah, yeah
More than you'll ever know, yeah, yeah, yeah
You had faith, when I had none
You prayed God would bring me a brand new song
When I didn't think I could find the strength to sing
And all the while I'm hoping that I'll
Do the kind of praying for you that you've done for me
And that's the way it ought to be...
You have carried me
You have taken upon a burden that wasn't your own
And may the blessing return to you
A hundredfold, oh yeah... A hundredfold, oh yeah...
So THANK YOU. Thank you to all of you who allowed me to go. Thank you for still being my friends though I am thousands of miles away, for not forgetting about me, for picking up right where we left off even though you don't stop living your lives just because I am not physically present in them. Thank you to all of you who pray for me. I am more indebted to you than you know.
