Sylvia's Journal

I have received my marching orders for the shoulder surgery on Monday and the green light from my healthcare providers for my posting to Afghanistan – a US government stipulation that required a repeat, for 255 dollars, of a physical examination done only a few months ago. Axel had to undergo the same and was also cleared.

Most people at the doctor’s office could not imagine moving to Afghanistan in their wildest dreams. You could see the incredulity in their faces. But once they realized we really wanted to do this, they gave us tender smiles of encouragement. I could see prayers on the edges of the smiles.

Having been out of the country for over a month I had missed the wettest weeks of June and July, but on this last day of July I was treated to a full rain show. It was like monsoons have come to eastern Massachusetts. Inside the house everything was damp; the papers on my desk curled and fresh printing smudged. White stuff is growing on the old family chest and the Mauritanian leather CD box, never entirely cured, has stuff growing in the grooves of the elaborate leather work.

Tessa and I, both working at home for the cause of international public health, finished Axel’s fancy birthday cake between the two of us, in stages, until there were only crumbs left. I never want another cake for a birthday. In between bouts of procrastination (not sure about Tessa, but certainly true for me) I prepared for my upcoming trip to Ghana and did yet another iteration of a job description of one of my new supervisees and his supervisee. It is stuff that others have always done and it takes some mental effort to get going. I hope that the next email from Kabul will say ‘Done!’

This morning I am preparing for the trip to New York, down Long Island, and back up the Hudson, that Bill and I have been fantasizing about for the last 6 months. It looks like the weather is cooperating. It will be an all day trip and possibly my last for a long while. Flying with one arm in a sling is not a good idea, even though one of my previous plane co-owners, by the name of Lefty, is a one-armed pilot and can do it.

While we are heading south, Axel will head north to Maine to help Hala celebrate her 50th birthday. Between the two of us we will cover a good chunk of America’s eastern seaboard