overheard

marya: tom, i'm your new neighbor.
tom: hmmm, i don't know how to feel about that...
marya: threatened!

thursdays with tajikis-jan



what a great day. decent enough day at work. that is a plus. after work, got an invite from tom to mosey downtown for farmer's, to catch some fresh veggies and a bite to eat.

it was mobbed and perfectly festive. i had a permagrin. i don't know why. a warm summer evening. the abundancy of peaches, nectarines, plums, beans... everything. people everywhere, happy to be outside. great company with thomas.

walking home we ran into sara, taking pictures of the amazing jacaranda tree in technocolor purple, just ready to step to the side of all-green goodness. the tree was intense purple. the sky was dusty purple. and the moon looked over it all. gorgeousness.

"jan and cholla are at the house," she said. "it's pina colada night."

i bid tom adieu at the corner and proceeded straight to the arms of my dear friends, in from outta town — cholla lives in phoenix and jan is fresh out of tajikistan. we milled around the house for a half an hour, but i finally coaxed them over to my part time abode.

we had wine and cookies and went through picture after picture of tajikistan, asking jan more questions (what is this, what is this, what is that, what are you doing there.).







who knew that jan would fall in love with tajikistan and its wonderful people. i wanted to post pictures (her pictures are amazing), but until i do lemme just say that her stories are filled with people who are nice and welcoming and friendly and exotic.

"your life," i said to her, "is so exciting."

"it's just my life," said jan. "i'm in a routine. it's what i do."

but what jan does is follow her dreams and stay true to herself and open to those around her, and that, i am sure of it, is the key to happiness.

tomorrow = catching up with cholla. :)