Small pools of light

My favorite time of day is just at dark
when all thoughts of what must be done stop &
small pools of light
come alive on tired faces everywhere.
~StoryPeople

This past Thursday night, Courtney and I had the opportunity to attended a retirement party for a former science teacher at Beit Sahour School. This teacher also happens to be my host mother. It was a wonderful night full of good food (LOTS AND LOTS OF GOOD FOOD!), stories, jokes and laughter.

As is the theme in my life right now, I understood barely any of the conversation because it was mostly in Arabic, except for the pieces that were in English for our benefit. However, despite not being able to understand the specifics of what were being said, it was pretty easy to understand the overall of the night.

We were gathering to celebrate the years that my host mom had worked at the school, and it was easy to see how much all of the other teachers loved her and how much she loved them all. That love filled the room and became a contagious energy. It was kind of like one of those commercials for Olive Garden where friends and family are sitting at a table passing food and alaughing, except rather than pasta and breadsticks it was hummus and kebobs being passed around.

As I sat and looked around the room, taking in the joy, laughter and love, I saw the “small pools of light come alive on tired faces.”