Harriet Hill
Phoenixville, PA
Born to Dutch dairy farmers in LA, lived life cross-culturally, especially in Africa , now pursuing my first love, making art.
MessageMy old friend Gabriel lived next to us in the village of Bodou.
He was sinewy thin--a body that had seen plenty of field work. He had a friendly disposition and was skilled at all manner of things. He could stand in a dugout canoe and throw a net to catch fish without capsizing.
I still have a basket he wove and gave to me.
But you could just sit in the village. You didn't need to be doing anything in particular,
So we sat and chatted often at the end of the day, with the cool breeze coming off the lagoon.
He taught me a proverb which is a tongue-twister in Adioukrou with lots of syllabic nasals (m, n and some others not found in English): "There is not any good without some bad, and there's not any bad without some good."
For example, I spent my early adult life in Africa: great adventure, but I missed out on life in the US. I had 3 children by the time I was 24, so I missed out on the 20-something play years!. On the other hand, after the kids left home for college, I was able to do a PhD by the time I was 50 . . and on and on.
Is this painting a pyramid building up? Or a hole going down? It's both, depending your disposition.
There's never any good without some bad, and never any bad without some good!