Story Time: It’s the Little Things

Today I walked outside with Livvy, carrying a cooler of Kool-Aid to the car.  As soon as we were in the the clear, where I could see the sky, I looked up in awe.  Clouds.  Just clouds.

I can guess your probably thinking, “What?  Is she serious?  Is this some kind of joke?”

Nope, It’s not.

Almost everyday since we got here, there has been either a clear sky or total over-cast.

But these were real clouds. The ones that look like white and fluffy monsters rolling across the sky.  They were just beautiful against the bright blue.  Something was just so awesome about seeing clouds again.  It was a lot  like I had forgotten what it felt like to have normal clouds in the sky.

We drove with the Kool-Aid to another mission compound, where we asked some friends to play soccer.  During the middle of the game, I was down at the end of the field on goal keeper duty, when again I looked up and say the clouds rolling away and the bright whiteness of them, which was starting to turn to a grayish as if it would rain.

A little later I was out of bounds, grabbing the ball, when I felt a small sort of wetness on my head.  It wasn’t the kind of wetness that was already on me from being sprayed with the hose.  It wasn’t the wetness of the sweat on me from playing soccer in 100 degree weather.  And I thought it might just be…but could it be? “RAIN!”, Someone shouted.  And our faces lit up in excitement and joy as a few small drops began to fall from the sky, as if God dipped His fingers in water and dripped it down upon us.

I lifted my arms to the sky and closed my eyes as if everything around me would stop and I would enjoy the little drops of joy falling every now and then, that spread a coolness on me in the midst of the blazing heat.

It wasn’t enough to get the whole ground wet. It wasn’t enough to water crops. It was just the mere fact that it rained.

 

It’s always the little things that remind me of home.

Before playing soccer, we got out the hose to water the field, so we wouldn’t kick up dust while playing. I ran through the hose to cool off. The smell of the hose water and that wetness on my shirt reminded me of water fights in our yard at home.

The body wash we currently have in our shower reminds me of smell that my grandma always had in her house.

Having my hair down on my shoulders when I brush it, reminds me of the weather that is cool enough, and allows you to comfortably let you hair just flow.

Putting on sock reminds me of the coziness of winters in Wisconsin.

 

After leaving the states many things were not the same, food, clothing, smells, buildings, and every random thing in your life is just a little different. I can’t explain it, but every now and then, I become overwhelmed with something that reminds me of home. It could be a smell, the way something feels, or even a little noise.

If I remember correctly (it wasn’t a very significant experience so I don’t fully remember), there was one day at our house that something made a weird noise. I don’t even remember what the noise came from. That noise reminded me of the sound our old fridge would make when it dropped the frozen ice cubes into the tray that would catch them to be ready for use.

I really is crazy, all the little things that matter in a  big way.

 

Lots of Love – Abby<3