Pancetta and Peace

I had a wonderful dinner tonight with friends who are in the middle of life. They struggle and they learn and they remember. And then we eat pasta with pancetta in it. I am not certain, but I am pretty sure pancetta is really thick chunks of Italian bacon. Pause for effect... Right?

We leave, we come back and what should be full circle is sometimes retrograde. Our lives take us places and it is just like math, you can only move forward, positive accumulation of forward trajectory. But sometimes, the pals back at the ranch expect that you are the same person you were when you left. They are suspicious, they are unsure, they just don't know what you've been up to, so they assume you've been right there with them. Or that you are pulling a fast one. It takes some bravery to say "you have changed" and not have that connote a loss. It takes more courage to admit you do not have the same experience as someone else, especially if you are from the same home town. Humans find comfort in what is familiar, yet sometimes resent familiarity's limits. Humans sometimes fear that which is foreign, yet are attracted to the difference and the potential. It is a hard task to rebuild trust when returning to one's home town from valuable life enriching adventures. Humility, forgiveness and total respect for the growth and maturity of the pals who stayed put are necessary on behalf of the traveler. And the same for the life long residents.

Earlier, before dinner, we all visited our friend who recently gave birth to a beautiful girl. She is brand new, fresh and precious. She has a condition wherein her lower intestine has a portion that does not have nerves and so therefore cannot process the elimination of waste. Now I don't know how many of y'all have been around babies, but the biggest thing they do is poop. It is like life and death for a newborn and all the adults hover around saying "did she poop yet? is she pooping? make sure she poops..." So this is a big deal. And I am so happy to know this family and to be able to help them get through this rough phase until their baby can have surgery and poop like a normal baby.

I love life. Poop and pancetta, and all. (Wait, that is gross...)

GRIN