The good, the bad and the ugly

Well, I'm back now. Was going to say back "home" but many of you know that for me "home is where I hang my hat."  I'm in Seattle now, I just came back from helping with a flat tire incident, my hat is soaking wet and I am cold.  Still happy to be here with my Seattle family, I get to see Rhianna and family this weekend-----everything is peachy.

What's this about the good, bad and ugly?

Those of you who have been following this blog may know what I'm referring to, but since the posts go from the most recent and then into the past some of you don't know that my dear family in Guatemala was torn apart by an extortionist.

Beautiful Thunderhead

I will post three entries here simultaneously. This one I will be my good old proactive, (Pollyanna) keep things on the bright side self.

The next one will be a quick recap of Brigitte's trauma and current situation.

Same thunderhead with the "Guatemalan" touch  (It's behind bars)

The last ( "the UGLY" ) is a news clip that aired on PBS last week.  My sister shared it with me, it deals with violence in Guatemala, in particular violence against women.

I stayed with Clara her husband Axel and their two kids Brigittette, and Alex for two weeks after the rest of the family had to flee to Holland.

Alex, Axel, little Brigitte and Clara

I am at this moment a bit torn between the tranquil lifestyle I had for four weeks in Guatemala and the abundance that I have around me here.  A few hours ago I was sitting at my office (Starbucks) waiting for a tire to be fixed. The place was full of people doing lots of important things.
At one table in front of me there were two people very busy multi tasking. All at once they were -talking to each other - each of them had laptop computers they were working on- (Macs by the way) - and they both had iPhones they were fondling- (at times even using them as phones.) Oh yeah, there was a newspaper that was being read from time to time. I looked on despairingly. Then I realized  what I was doing --  Having a cup of coffee, while a tire was being fixed for me,  while I listened to a podcast, while I checked my e-mail and facebook on my iPod.  (If I had a phone there would have been a phone call or two in there too.) ---   MY GOD, I'M BEING SUCKED INTO THE ABYSS.  Three days ago I was in heaven simply sitting on the veranda having a  cup of coffee! Now I'm back to the world of multi tasking.