A Special Time Together

( Thursday April 5, 2012)

It was wonderful to get together at Chip and Adrienne's for Pizza n' salad and catching up with cousin Tony and Pam taking a little time off from their job in Mexico City.

Mike and his daughter Jessie even made it, much to everybody's delight.

Sue and Pam getting some refreshment, and giving a smile.

Chip and Adrienne proudly show us her wonderful Easter egg creation. She's been making these delightful table displays for many years.

he highlight of the evening were the adventures of Tony and Pam when they lived in  Kabul, Afghanistan compared to where they're now staying in Mexico City. Naturally, there's quite a contrast. Afghanistan's going through the difficulty of many civil wars and contrasting cultures. During their stay there, Pam described living in the Embassy as being much like living here. However, Tony's world was quite different. When he left that safe place to visit the provinces, he put on his bullet proof clothing, got into an armed vehicle protected by guards. Sometimes they would take a different route to make sure it was safe. One time a bomb went off just outside of the Embassy. Kabul's higher altitude provides a fairly mild temperature compared to where many of our soldiers were deployed in the desert where the temperature reached 140 degrees and the dust was about six inches deep.

On the other hand, Pam and Tony are enjoying Mexico City. It's altitude is about 7,000 ft. and pleasant. The Mexican government keeps the city very clean, and their economy seems to be remarkably improved. While listening it was nice to put on my rose-colored glasses and  hear something positive instead of the steady stream of news concerning illegal emigrants, drug cartel wars, murder and mayhem.

Kabul, Afghanistan and Mexico City, Mexico.

Getting together was very special, and taking the time to actually listen to Tony and Pam's  experiences was great. Pam expressed surprise that we wanted to know, because most people aren't that interested. That surprised me. Thanks so much Adrienne and Chip for making this special time together possible.

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