Phases of 50 Part 2--Collective Memories

One of the highlights of my 51^st Birth week, was receiving nearly 50 Birthday wishes from Friends on Facebook.  What is particularly gratifying about this is the span of time and space this network embodies.  Not counting my family, I received messages from friends whom I have known since as far back first grade.  This is no small thing since I was a 3^rd culture kid and went to Elementary School in a Country that does not even exist any longer.  (East Pakistan).  But also the breadth of relationships was gratifying, many are lifelong friends I made during my 25 year dance career as a dancer, a choreographer, and then teacher at Vassar College and other places that span the US and many parts of the world.  Probably the most cohesive group is my senior class in High School (Woodstock ’78 in Mussoorie, India)  I think we had a class of about 60 and I am friends with most on Facebook.

I have to say, I am not the only dancer/choreographer that has gone on to other things after 40.  Many of my peers have left the dance world (although among the few that remain, some have gone on to impressive careers choreographing for movies, on Broadway, or working as Professors at dance departments of different Universities.  Many of my former students are in mid career all over the US and the world.)  But I am very impressed by those who left and have gone on to other careers.  Some are doctors, social workers, successful entrepreneurs, many went back to school at some point in life for graduate studies, and most have families with great kids.

I am mentioning this for the benefit of parents of teenagers who are about to set off to College and may want to pursue performing arts (particularly dance) as a career.  My own experience and the experience of my peers would suggest that it is hard work, but good preparation for life.  It teaches, discipline, sacrifice, commitment, frugality, and other values that serve one in any pursuit in life.  It is not a dead-end or waste of time!

I certainly do not regret my choice to pursue dance after college for many years, I am proud of what I accomplished, and I also do not regret setting it aside it to pursue work in mission and development after 25 years.  I am very blessed to have a wonderful family, 2 awesome sons and an amazing wife.  But also I am thankful for the many friends I have met along the way through the many phases of life. 

I also appreciate greatly the fact that Facebook allows me to enjoy a collective memory of much of my life through friends that I had made along the way and with whom I shared significant experiences.  It is also gratifying to find that many are genuinely interested in what has happened to me, the ways I have changed over the years, etc.  I don’t spend a lot of time communicating on Facebook but it is like a living Year Book that I can open from time to time and see the past and the present of people I know.   

Celebration this week really began for us after Wednesday Feb 15^th when all of our reporting was due for the fiscal year.  Replicating the data to our headquarters in the US on Tuesday night successfully was almost an emotional event.

We had several social events afterwards on different nights.  On Wednesday we had the Horsts (our service worker family) over to dinner.  The reason for this was partly to officially pass on the first of the puppies who are going to new owners.  Jal (their 7 yo son) was very excited about bringing home the boy pup that they named ‘Scooby’.

On Thursday we went over to Allison Gill’s house, a young missionary woman here who actually helped us breed  Bella and has been promised a puppy.  We delayed on delivering the puppy though, as she will be going back to the UK briefly for several weeks, so we will hold onto her pup until then.

On Friday we dropped a second puppy at the house of John and Nadine a long term missionary who has married a Burundian. He has kids about Oren and David’s age (all girls) and is the owner of the male dog who is the father of the puppies.  It was interesting to talk to John as he is very much a jack-of-all-trades, but among his more impressive jobs is being sound engineer for the President of Burundi.  He is very busy and has a ‘lorry’ of equipment stored at his house which he takes ‘on tour’ whenever the President is upcountry.  (The President usually travels with an entourage of several choirs and a dance company when he goes campaigning or Evangelizing around the country.)

Oren and David had fun playing with the girls who have several swingsets and slides.  The puppy was a bit scared by the other big dogs there, but they did not seem to be threatening her in any way.

After our puppy drop-off we returned home and had a family dinner followed by a Birthday cake which I shared with Oren, David, Rebecca and MY PARENTS (on Skype.)!  You can see the picture of them on the computer next to the cake.  Friday was my actual Birthday, but we had planned a party on Saturday.

Admittedly, the party we planned on Saturday was fairly last minute with all of our time focused on deadlines at the beginning of the week.  Rebecca started texting people on Thursday that we wanted to have a contradance on Saturday for my Birthday.  (Actually it has been my ambition to one monthly.)  Anyway, we did get the message to all of our close friends and had a very good turn-out on Saturday.  Most of the folks from our small group were there including Tim and Jeanettes family, and Peter, Astrud and Travis came with family, many of our German friends were there as well as Naja and Thomas, and Zachee and Bridget (all with their families).  There were several other guests as well and we definitely had enough to do some dancing. 

I like to transform our house into a dance hall, that is take all of the stuff out of the living room and put it on the porch.  It is nice to sit out on the porch and have all that space in the house, like a dance studio.

We had prepared 5 dances that progressed in difficulty and were able to teach 3 of them but danced the more difficult one several times.  I am hoping that by the time we leave our friends will all be adept contradancers.

We ended the evening with a pot luck, and cupcakes decorated with the message Happy Birthday.  It was a really nice day. 

Sunday we went to church where there was a young English guy (David) speaking who works with a British Aid Agency.  He talked about the need this country has for Godly transformational leaders, modeled by Christians, who exemplify humility.  He compared it to a recent trip upcountry with a govt. official to see the opening of a school.  The official complained about having to get up early (9am—and he actually arrived 2 hours late), took umbrage that his title was slightly misspoken by the officiator of the ceremony, looked for a cause to ask for a bribe, then, as he left, made some inappropriate advances toward a young female subordinate.  David ended the sermon by asking what it would have been like to have this leader model the exact opposite behavior—arrive on time or early, laugh off small flubs of protocol, take interest in the project without looking for something for himself, and then not abuse power over subordinates, but rather respect them.

It was a good sermon and a reminder here that as  Christians and leaders, our behavior should reflect the values we hold, and model the servant leadership of our Lord.

We ended the evening Sunday at small group where Tim was hosting 3 pastors who were teaching in Burundi this week.  I was a bit intimidated leading but we had a very rewarding discussion about the anointing of Saul and the relevance of his story in the Burundian context.  We agreed that Saul, who started out with such promise and apparent modesty about assuming power, followed by his obsession with power and refusal to let go once king, was very relevant to the Burundian and whole African context for that matter.