How Can the Unfamiliar Seem So Familiar? - Margaret Denny

 I have purposely waited a few days to post something. I needed to let the overwhelming weariness seep gradually from my body and be replaced with new energy that only a nice shower and good night’s sleep can renew. I also needed to really have something to say. Imagine me without anything worthy of talking about! I know, I know…it doesn’t happen very often! Yeah, right.

Antonio, Almadena, Ricardo (in his LSU T-shirt!) and Lucas

We’ve spent the last couple of days reconnecting with people we have waited a year to see again. We’ve laughed, we’ve talked, we’ve eaten, we’ve hugged, and happily caught our lives back up. We’ve seen how much the children we grew to care for so much last year have grown.  My, time does fly! How can Matilde be talking in sentences, counting in English? How wonderful is it that Antonio is learning how to ride a horse? Ricardo is speaking English so well! Ricardo (little Ricardo’s father) has opened a new business, and Veronica is baking some of the best cookies I’ve ever put in my mouth! No wonder she is selling them!

A view from our apartment

Then there is the city itself. We are staying in a wonderful apartment hotel as it is referred to in Chile. We are close to the Thomas Jefferson School, the mall,  Kenny and his host family, and our friends, Veronica and Ricardo (who also are hosting one of our grad students and her 7 yr. old son).  It is a wonderful location, and we are very comfortable here.

Last year we were in an apartment downtown. We bonded pretty closely to our little apartment, and especially loved its location. Today, Ken and I ventured back to our old stomping grounds. We parked the car not far from the building we called home last year and walked to the town center past our corner grocery, coffee shop, our Italian restaurant we liked, the hotdog place (Ken was so excited to see this place last year!), etc. As we were walking down the residential boulevard toward the towncenter, I couldn’t help but feel so very at home. And then the thought struck me; how can the unfamiliar suddenly seem so familiar, so natural? This time last year I was walking this path for the first time. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the people all were so, for lack of a better word, foreign. Yet, here I was, feeling as if I’d never really left, that the energy, the vibrancy, were all an integrated part of my soul. How is it that even a language barrier can not truly diminish a sense of comfort and, almost, a sense of belonging? The answer is that home is truly where the heart is and a piece of my heart is here.

A beautiful sunset in Quillon

The countryside