2006-06-02 - 9:33 a.m.
So I'm leaving for America tomorrow, right? For a two week visit home for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. For the occassion, I had a special Turkmen handmade carpet made with my grandparents' names, the date of their marriage, and a good luck greeting in Turkmen woven into it. I think my grandparents are going to be quite pleased with the results, even if I don't let out that a good portion of it was made by malnourished Turkmen girl hands.
Wouldn't it be grossgreat if the carpet was made just by hands that weren't attached to any body at all? Just these floating hands diligently making a turkmen rug?
Things I'm nervous about: bringing the boyfriend with me to the anniversary party. He's been officially invited by the grandparents, but who knows if they have any idea what it all means. And by "what it all means" I definitely don't mean "about life." That's going to be a funny feeling, walking into a room of my relatives I never see, standing next to a guy who's been nicknamed "boyfriend" the past two and a half years. "Heh, heh. Yeah, so Turkmenistan! And the fact I love boys! Aunt Sue really went to town on this egg salad, huh?"
So besides that bout of nervousness, I'm excited about going back to the land where it all began, but it's hard to believe that I'll be there. I'm already anticipating walking into a K-mart and being like, "What? Oh yeah." Things there will be a lot of during my trip:
1) Supermarkets. I'm really excited about supermarkets.
2) Showers. Showers are great.
3) Brownies.
4) Underwear time.
5) Television. IN MY OWN LANGUAGE. !!.
I also hope there is a lot of laughter, which sounds like the name of a terrible poem that someone puts in a high school graduate's congratulations card. But it's true. We definitely need more laughter in this house.
