life and times on the homefront
The Korean woman at the shop held up my foot and, pointing it toward the counter, giggled. One of the other women doing nails laughed as well and they conversed rapidly back and forth. I glanced at my mom as she held her hand over her mouth, smiling. I looked at her and said, "Is it about my tan?" and smiled with her. I was getting a pedicure this afternoon in a little shop near my mom's apartment. We hung out most of the afternoon, eating & laughing. I filled her in about the details of my trip and thought about ways I could prepare myself further. I've been content all day, re-familiarizing and reflecting on life in my hometown.
There's a stack of things in Minneapolis waiting to be stored, one of my other tasks is to purge the things I've held onto at home. Hurridly, I went through boxes and boxes of old drawings and journals, bad poetry, letters received from old friends all over the world, yearbooks, and other such mementos. I told myself to let go of a lot of things. Many of the words in those letters and journals I probably won't read again for reasons other than to think look what I used to do.
Right now I'm over memories, I'm extremely transfixed with the opening ceremony for the Beijing Games. Being on the other side of the world, the ceremonies have of course, already happened. But to see it anyway, is amazing. A lot of the effects are possible because of the synchronized efforts of many people working together. Perhaps after the ceremony is over I'll start to forget that the Olympics is happening amidst my move and transition into a new place, but for now, I will think about it fondly as an ideal symbol of many countries coming together.
...or a really cool performance.
