1 Big Month and 1 "Small" Lesson

It's been barely over a month since the kids and I landed in Ghana, wide-eyed and pale. In that time, we've all had our weak, old Western belly bacteria switched out with a more rigorous version of Africa bacteria, the kids have learned that teaching styles here are a bit more "rigid" than on Vashon , we're all a couple shades darker (or redder, in Sophie's case) and I've learned to embody the phrase "small small" as much as my type A (ok, in the past couple of years, I've probably downgraded to Type A-) self can possibly stand.



I keep hearing people say to me "small small". At first, I'm thinking "what, am I eating too much?" Hardly. Then, I thought they were saying something specific was small and I was constantly looking around to figure out what, exactly, was so small. Then, one day, as I was lamenting about my house not being all put together and organized, my housekeeper looks at me and says "small small. you do too much. you've only been here 3 weeks." And, I got "it". I got much-needed perspective on my very Western expectations and I understood that "small small" means one thing at a time, take your time, slow down. Since then, I have heard "small small" sometimes several times a day. It's become my little mantra and my reminder to stop. Slow down. Take a deep breath and know that everything will happen in its own time.