Monday, February 16

Everything Changes.

I have been thinking a lot about the fires in Australia, and how they will forever change the lives of those affected. Not just those who lost loved ones, but those that see a forever changed landscape, who noses fill with smoke when they walk outside and don't know if they will ever feel they have done enough to help.

Each of us has a day, a moment like this. Mine is the day we left El Salvador with our baby son, at the end of a civil war that lasted 12 years and took 75,000 lives.

We left in the early morning still under the cover of darkness, riding past smouldering buildings with their top floors blown off. Men with AK47's roaming the streets unsure what to do. Small groups of children who stood on the toll roads with little bags of nuts to sell. Children as young as seven , who I knew did not have a family and could never be adopted because they could not be identified. It was a beautiful land, full of hope and volcanoes decimated by war.

When we returned home after a long and uncertain journey, I knew my life had taken a turn I had never imagined. I can remember every detail of that last day there. It helps me put everything in perspective and guides much of the way I live my life.

7 comments:

gypsy moon designs said...

Sherry, this is very moving.

Anji Gallanos said...

Sherry..this is beautiful and the time you spent enriched you and obviously gave you such a deep appreciation. Beautiful

High Desert Diva said...

Not quite awake yet...right now I can only think: Wow.

XUE said...

a touching tale to make us appreciate what we have, even more.

Anastasia said...

such a heartfelt post...i can sort of relate as my husbands family left their home and village & all their remainings after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974...they cant go back to their home even now almost 40years later, its just so unfair...they still have the key to their front door...sad!

Waterrose said...

Such a memory! Not as tramatic, but I remember every detail of my first day in Berlin and the day I left two years later. It was a completely different world to live in for an 18 year old Ohio girl...the wall was still up and soldiers rode around in jeeps from the 4 allies with machine guns...surreal.

Bacon Square Farm said...

Sherry, a very moving story and one that changed your life for the positive, your a wonderful talented lady with a huge heart.