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.