The Berliner Dome

The former chapel for the reigning Kaiser. A wee little thing. A dear friend and I bought a couple of Grapefruit beers and a box of cheese sticks and headed to the lawn of the Dome to have a long, and yes, another, difficult conversation. It seems like life is full of them these days. This whole thing with work has been long, and difficult and I am worn threadbare emotionally. I know it is good and in the end is right, but it is always hard for me to fully understand that pain is not an enemy, it simply is.

We talked until the shade made us cold and then I met Valeska at my favorite cafe for a cold glass of Riesling and a wonderful conversation about the aid work I have done and am dreaming of doing. I was so inspired by their interest and excitement. I felt really alive.

After that I met Andre and Daniel for drinks at Gorki Park... I had a Diet Coke, straight up. We started talking about.. what else? Aid work (I am pretty sure the people in my life are sick of hearing about Africa and Malaria and the Infant Mortality Rate in Afghaistan - 27% of children die before 5) I almost fell over laughing when Daniel said at one point, "I always want to give more to charity, it's just that it costs a lot of money to party every night and I don't really want to cut into my going out budget." We're all on our own journey! I adored his honesty.

Deep sigh. I am thankful that the heaviness of these days have not resulted in bad days, but they make me introspective and that is not always good. I keep telling myself, be carefree girl, look up and look out, not in. I also chant my favorite marathon mantra, "If it were easy everyone would be doing it."