Spring In BA

In Buenos Aires, winter is almost over, the wet, cold days are beginning to lighten up more and more; more sunlight, more warmth, the trees will soon be budding and flowering. I will miss the violet blooms this year, raining down on the streets, blanketing the sidewalks with their delicate color. The smell of jasmine teasing the nose to trace down its source; the vibrant red of the ceibo flower, fuchsia and periwinkle flowers that children weave in their hair – these I miss.

I long to sip a cafecito with una buena amiga at a sidewalk café, watching the people pass by. Very soon los porteños will ditch their overcoats and heavy winter sweaters in favor of lighter clothing, bringing color once again to the streets. If there is one season that they don’t like, it’s winter, with the bone chilling cold, wind and rain.

I will also miss the end of the school year, when the children celebrate another year completed by ripping up their notebooks and scattering their pages all over the streets surrounding the schools. I will miss our week at the beach in Villa Gesell, celebrating Christmas and New Year’s with fireworks, hanging out on the rooftops to see the sky light up all over the city with fuegos artificiales. The holidays are also celebrated with an asado with friends, sitting around in lounge chairs while the meat cooks, filling up on appetizers all the while wishing you had more room for the meat and the vast variety of salads. Then there’s there desserts. Fortunately, an asado lasts about 8 hours, so there’s plenty of time to work up an appetite again.

There’s nothing quite as tempting as walking past your favorite bakery and smelling the delicious aromas of freshly baked medialunas and other facturas. My favorites are filled with dulce de membrillo. Tommy’s favorites are filled with dulce de leche, particularly churros. The chicas enjoy those with azúcar negra on top, and Chico will eat anything with dulce de leche, usually scraping it off with his finger and leaving the rest of the pastry for anyone else to enjoy.

Why bring up all these memories? Am I torturing myself? I feel as if I am on a speeding train, which can either arrive at its destination all intact, with a happy Butler family on board, or it can crash headlong into oblivion, destroying our dreams, and our hearts, in the process. We have hope, we have faith, and we trust God that this time He is answering our petitions differently than every other time in the past year. There’s a lot to be done, most of all prayer, between now and when the train stops its journey. Hopefully we will survive! Meanwhile we will continue to dream, plan, prepare ourselves and those around us, and keep our eyes wide open.

Daring to Dream Again

Last week I finally read Kissing Adrien and it impacted me so much. I’m still tearing up over it. It reminded me so much of Buenos Aires, life there, the attitude and culture, lifestyle, etc. Purchasing groceries for a daily need, walking to where you need to go, tiny elevators, old apartments, impeccably dressed people who are confident in who there are (how they look), using items for their use (sneakers for running, not for wearing as a shoe), outdoor cafés, eating late, sidewalk dining, cafecitos, pastries for breakfast and merienda, farmacias that carry makeup and professional help to aid you in your purchases, boutiques, carnicerías, vegetable stands, panadería, cotillón, heladerías, carrying your groceries home, slower lifestyle, siestas, month long vacations, meals made from scratch, people sharing their opinions whether you ask for it or not, 3 conversations carrying on at once, loooong visits over mate, friendships that last a lifetime regardless of physical distance.

And more than anything I want to serve Christ with my life. What better place to do it than in the one place I want to live, want to thrive? It’s not that I’m languishing here, it’s just that I terribly miss my adopted culture, and at this point would do anything to return there. Will God make that dream come true for us?