As field season draws nigh, I figured it was high time to fire up the ol' blog after months of neglect. Let's call this Episode I (of many) in the field chronicles of #2015Ellen.
Tonight I watched an incredible short film by American Rivers ("The important places"), and if you have 10 minutes to spare, I promise it's VERY MUCH worth your time. It made me feel all the feels I usually try to stifle, which is to say, watch it with a hanky nearby.
Or maybe it's just me.
Because it struck a chord.
Today, after much fuss and many pointlessly long discussions about timelines (since it was important to most folks to spend as little time as possible away from family), we finally have virtual tickets in hand, and we (the old field team, minus a very key member*) are going back to Lake Tanganyika.
It's happening. And I should be excited.
Should be...excited...
There was a quote, in the film, that won't leave me, and it sums up why I've been more...hesitant about returning to a place that I love.
"Sometimes we get stuck, in eddies and in life. Currents that won't let us go. Places we shouldn't be."
Tanganyika is one of my Important Places, and it's also my eddy.
I have the sinking suspicion I'm not supposed to be there anymore, and so I'm treating this summer as my chance to say goodbye. The Sirens call of new adventures, somewhere else, is barely audible, but very, very real.
"Open your eyes and see what you can see with them before they close forever."**
Stay tuned.
*BENJA IS NOT COMING THIS YEAR!! I still can't believe it.
**Prevalent theme throughout "All The Light We Cannot See," which I HIGHLY recommend
