**
I left Israel yesterday and am now in New Jersey. I had a stopover at Heathrow airport in cold London (even the airport was cold; the people, the temperature, the lighting). Long flights, little sleep, nausea, stiff neck every time I woke up.
I'm always afraid of flying. As we ran up the runway at Ben Gurion I listened to Jason Mraz's "Song For a Friend" and imagined men dancing to the song all around the airplane.
I'm afraid of take-offs so I just completely let go of control and let me body loose, no strings attached to any hard feelings. I wasn't tense. I was just me, a little body flying over the clouds. Pretty fascinating.
I met Shanti on the flight from London to Newark. Shanti is from India and her name means "Peace". I laughed, and explained that now I know where the word "shanti" in Hebrew cultural language probably came from.
Being named "Peace" is beautiful.
**
Before I left Samuel left me, but that was after I initially emotionally left him.
I miss him and I suspect a big part of the next 106 days in America will be thinking about him and about the pros and cons of being or not being in a relationship with him.
And wondering what is important in life; like I wondered right now, when I walked outside to the Brodskys' porch and smelled the wonderful fresh smell of American trees.
What will I believe in 106 days?
(The photos were taken with a simple pocket digital camera; I decided not to take my big one. And sometime this week I'll buy a new cam at B&H, mainly for the trail... I start the trail in 3 weeks.)