The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what
sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams,
illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that. Unknown is what
it is. Accept that it’s unknown, and it’s plain sailing.
-John Lennon
So….
my American friend Adam left a couple of days ago.
Sad to see him go.
Luckily we got our dog the same day,
so it in some way made up for the void…
you know ~the void~
it’s that emptiness in the house when a guest leaves
and the ending of a reprieve of
the holiday of having an outsider in your home
seeing your own town through a visitor’s perspective
every meal a preparation and a joy that must be celebrated with wine
of joining in on their festive holiday spirit
eating too much, drinking too much,
laughing too much, talking too much
all the too*much~isms of having a visitor.
when they leave it’s like you’ve just finished a holiday in your own home.
Not only do you miss the holiday, you miss them too.
Even if you’ve only known them for five days.
I miss his funny yankeeisms:
the way his right hand wasn’t the same if it didn’t have a can of “soda” in it
his blatant honesty about everything, including bowel movements
how aware he was about personal space and touching
him correcting my english with the “proper” american way of speaking
I also miss his unique humanness:
his openness to ideas
his intelligence
his sense of humour
the way he really *looked* at you when he spoke to you, with such clear blue eyes
his laid~back, just “chillin” nature
his ultra~politeness
him camped out infront of quality australian tv shows with a beanbag and a doona
his love of all the ugly dogs at the pound, even the diseased puppies *hee hee*
him finding it amusing that I’d booked him a hotel in the gay mecca street of Sydney *oops*
how comfortable it was to be in his presence
so many nice nice things, such an endearing boy
i learnt so much about the american culture too,
all of it highly interesting, not all so good though ~
about the guns, the crazyness, the serial killer obsessions, the negativity,
the hesitancy to connect with others with words, with touch, with interaction
the fear of strangers, the inability to stop the fast food habit
to see beyond the universe that is America.
Not that these were all reflected in my friend,
but he opened the window for us to see inside his nation.
He was able to see these things objectively,
even when he saw himself involved also.
It was a pleasure to finally meet you Adam.
It was so so good in so many ways.
We will meet again.
What a pleasure and a treasure to have these friends.
