Moment by Moment

The apple crisp was vkucna (tasty)

There are defining moments in our lives, no doubt.  Life is just a whole lot of moments all added up to make a minute, an hour, a day...however we choose to measure.  But how do you measure the quality of a moment?  While some seem rather ordinary, others are extraordinary whether because they are painful or full of joy.  But they are full of life.  They are all equally important of course, adding up to make our lives, but some seem to be rather full of impact.  Perhaps here is the quality.

Today I had one such moment.  Full of impact, fully alive. 

It  was a gorgeously sunny fall day here in Moldova.  I woke up early to make my way to the capital for a meeting about GLOW, a volunteer-led organization intending to empower girls in leadership.  I spent the morning with some fellow volunteers, sipped some (instant) coffee and ate some cookies (very normal here, in fact I am yet to attend a meeting where there are no cookies...).  I was eager to get back to my training village, Cricova, where I am staying for another 2 weeks of language training, so that I could make apple crisp with my host sister.  And so I breezed out of the meeting and out the front doors.  However, I did take a moment to stop by the guard's desk to see if I had any packages.  It was recently my birthday and some friends from home had mentioned I should watch the mail.  Sure enough, there was a bright red box with Mickey Mouse on it from my friend Erin.  I picked it up and off I went to catch bus #2.

I was walking briskly as I didn't want to find myself spending too many moments waiting for the next bus, I wanted the 12:05.  So I, with my red box, moved down the sidewalk-all flashes of black sweater, blonde hair and red box.  At one point, I looked up and saw one of the Peace Corps language teachers, Angela, walking towards me on the opposite side of the street.  I called out to her, "Priviet Angela!"  She replied, in Russian, "Hello Julie, how are you?" as we each continued briskly towards our intended destinations.   

What ensued was a simple, fast and passing conversation, all in Russian:

Me: I'm good, all is normal, such beautiful weather!  And you?

Angela: Me too, all is good. 

Me: Bye, see you tomorrow.

Angela: Bye!

What was significant about this conversation was not what was said, but that it was followed by a moment where I realized I had spoken entirely in my new language without the premeditation of what I would say.  This doesn't happen very often, not yet.  It felt natural.  I felt like it was totally normal for me to be walking down a street in Chisinau, Moldova, seeing people I knew and exchanging pleasantries, in Russian.  I felt like I belonged. 

All in a moment.


Like watching a child grow, you cannot tell moment by moment, day by day, how they are changing.  But there are moments where a great leap in growth is realized.  And it's in reflection of these moments where we are gifted with understanding our growth and seeing the lessons this life has to offer.  Isn't is SO COOL to be alive?

Om tat sat.