pebbles

The egg sandwich lady wasn't at her stand on Wednesday night so we decided to get rice & beans (Waayke) from this lady's stand tucked back a bit from the main road. Not like a hike but a few steps back with no line. Some say that should be a sign of bad food but instead I was trying to see it as a great find- fifty cents for a huge portion, no line, perfect. And it was perfect until I got it home and ate a good part of it. I was chowin down with just a few bites left and crunch. Not a bone crunch that I could force down somehow (it's pretty common) but like a real bad crunch. So, unladylike of me, I had to see what it was. It was a pebble! A round, black PEBBLE. Gross. Maybe that's why this lady didn't have any business. How do pebbles just jump into a huge pot of Waayke anyways? Weird.

Fast forward to today. Our Marine friend's driver came to pick us up from the movies (yes we had a spoiled day today) and of course Tori had to share my story. Emmanuel, the driver, busts out laughing and doesn't stop for a good while. I thought he was laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, as the random/crazy stories only seem to happen to me around here. He then explains "you should be happy it wasn't a stone! You are lucky it was just a pebble." Really?! Emmanuel tells me that it's pretty common to find large stones in your street chop (the stands on the side of the road that serve food like I got).

We drove down the road a bit and I made a comment about how great he drives in the terrible Accra traffic. Emmanuel, with such a happy chuckle, says, "You just have to be patient. It's a waste to get angry." This may sound like a duh moment but around here in Accra, patience is something I've gotta work pretty hard at, especially with the language barrier, poor sense of direction, and millions of opinions which are all usually incorrect. Emmanuel was so right though. What's the point? Why spend my time being frustrated and upset? Sure it's the easier way to go but definitely not the most beneficial to me,, or anyone else for that matter.

Then I connected the dots. Again this may seem cheesy or a bit over the top but around here I've gotta go off of something. Motivation and inspiration are found in the smallest of details. There's not much else to go off of so I'm thankful for these little lightbulbs that go off sometimes. I should be grateful for the pebbles. That they're just pebbles and aren't stones. So many things go wrong, or just not according to plan here. As a whole though I'm doing just fine and life isn't as dramatic as we make it seem. Same goes with the States back home. I find myself blowing up at the smallest of difficulties or inconveniences when really?! Life could be so much harder. But again, it's by grace that I only get the occasional pebble.