Last week in ZA

Friday night: I fly back to the states in two days time. People have been asking whether I'm excited to go home. It's complicated. One of the things that has become abundantly clear to me over the past two months is that I am blessed to be surrounded by and part of such a loving community of people. To know that I've had people to care about across every continent. That I feel compelled to care about billions of people I've never met and will never meet.

I am looking forward to seeing friends and family and will keep learning all sorts of things. It's taken until now to fully grasp what I'm walking away from. One of my commitments to myself coming into this summer was to fully embrace being here. To lean in to awareness and compassion and caring and feeling. When people hear that I'm working with kids with life limiting illnesses, they often ask me how I could bear it. Everyone has something to contribute. For me, presence is the thing I have to contribute. When I am fully present, I feel connected and collected. But being present makes it harder to be absent, and leaving is hard. 

Sunday evening: I'm getting ready to fly out from Johannesburg, soaking in the last few minutes here before I head back to the States. I have had some great conversations in the last few days and managed to make it to two major attractions before I departed: Naval Hill and the Botanic Gardens. The former is unique because it has a game reserve in the city. We saw springbok and ostrich and I got to look out over many of the places I've been in the past two months to see where they were relative to one another. We also visited the very large statue of Mandela that looks out over the city.

I was grateful for a chance to say goodbye to the kids at Sunflower House and many of the people who have made this experience so special. I have learned a ton about palliative care and look forward to sharing more of my reflections in the coming weeks. Thank you all for coming along with me on this ride, I couldn't ask for a sweeter set of people to share with.

Much love,

Lillie