The Gift of Time

As I said to someone in an email this past week, for the first time in my life, it seems, I'm not frantically busy, and I am so enjoying the experience. I know that the rest of my life will not be like this, but I am seeing this as a season in my life (and in the life of our family) in which I have been given the opportunity to slow down, and to have time to focus on the simple things in life --family, friends, food (of course I would include food) and fun.

I guess you could say that our lives feel less cluttered, and boy does it feel great! Unlike our days in Nashville that -- no matter what time of year it was -- seemed to be filled with one obligation after the next, our days here this summer have been blessedly unscheduled. One would think that without a million things to do, the days would drag by, but actually (and sadly) each day seemed to fly by. Nevertheless, over the past few weeks, I have had time to hang out with the kids, go to the pool without being there for swim practice or a swim meet, cook a LOT, take walks, sit on Facebook for hours catching up with old friends, read books, upload all of my digtal photos onto Picasa, and write on this blog.

While in some ways this has been a bit unsettling to this always over-scheduled, working mother of three, and although it has taken some getting used to, I have decided that this summer, with all of its worries about Graham and Brody (our little Houdini -- see a few posts ago), has been nothing but an incredible blessing to our family. As much as we enjoyed our travels in June (Croatia, Italy, Slovenia), the month of July, which I actually had been dreading because so many Embassy families would be away on vacation, and because surely there was not going to be ANYTHING to do, has been wonderful.

Not all of us were relaxed, though. For eight days in July, Eli was hosting a group of high-level Serbian officials on a study visit to the United States. This included three days in Nashville, where the group of Serbian officials, judges and prosecutors got to meet the U.S. Attorney in Nashville, as well as Tennessee's Attorney General and several federal judges. The second half of the trip was spent in Washington, D.C., meeting with folks from the Department of Justice and Obama's administration. This was a really stressful experience for Eli, as he was the only American with this group of 20+ officials, but the trip went really well, and he has gotten wonderful feedback from his Serbian colleagues about the trip. Several of them thanked him by taking him out for a traditional mid-day (HUGE) Serbian lunch this past Thursday -- it's always nice to feel appreciated!

As for my work, as passionate as I am about the work I was privileged to do in Nashville, and as much as I miss my incredible colleagues there, and the families and kids with whom I worked, I believe that this "sabbatical" of sorts is just what the doctor ordered for this time in my life. Of course, I couldn't wholly stay away from disability issues, and so I've gotten involved with a couple of non-profits here in Serbia, and am helping them with the enormous task of reforming the human rights and disability-related legal landscape in this country in order to improve conditions for folks with disabilities. I am so honored to have the opportunity to work with an amazing bunch of advocates here -- they are all so smart and committed and passionate.

Well, that's it for now. Off to the pool with Graham to swim for a while (Eli has taken Wes and Virginia to see the Harry Potter movie for the 2nd time!!) I will post again in a few days and share a bit about our experience at the hospital this past Thursday for Graham's EEG. Some interesting insights into the world of socialized medicine!!

Sending our best to all of you.

Erin & Family