Sylvia's Journal

Yesterday colleagues form around the world streamed into Boston: Peru, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, and Afghanistan. It was like the United Nations at MSH. Nearly everyone came with a powerpoint presentation, as requested, and I got to watch eight of them. I am not used to sit through powerpoints in general and eight was a bit much, even though all of them were excellent and informative.

Today we will stream in colleagues from Nepal, in bits and bytes rather than live, if the technology permits. My young colleague Thomas has done an amazing job setting up all the technology aids so that we will see and hear them, come hell or high water. I am very grateful that he has stuck with it to get this impossible task flawlessly executed because the stories that we are getting from Nepal are heartwarming and worth sharing with a wider audience.

Sita sent word (and pictures) yesterday from Sharm El Sheik. We have put away all soap in the house and are lining up to shake her hand when she comes back, the hand that was shaken by Tony Blair who she scribes in the picture. She is such a hot shit. We, ordinary mortals here at home, are awestricken with our very own Sita rubbing shoulders (and shaking hands) with the high and mighty in exotic places.

After a whole day of powerpoints I was pretty pooped coming home but we had another engagement; to celebrate the graduation of Alan, Edith and John’s son, from Boston University. He is one of the few graduates who leaves school without tens of thousands of dollars of school loan debt because John was faculty at BU. It would nearly be worth switching careers to get that lined up these days. Too late for us.

It was a small gathering en famille with dear friends and we toasted to open roads and possibilities and finished with carrot cake and champagne.

This morning I woke up before the alarm reminded me. It is now fully light at 4:30 AM and I can dress without having to turn on the lights. Summer is just around the corner!