“We travel not to escape life. But for life not to escape us.”
After about half an hour of studying the ants who lived at the campsite we had picked out off of a small dirt road in the countryside a tractor with a man, woman, and teenage girl drove by and waved. On their way out they stopped to give us some of the grapes they had just picked from their vines before inviting us back to their house for a meal. They served us fresh homemade bread, cheese, olives, and a stuffed bread that was absolutely delicious while the two girls, eleven and seventeen, used their few words of English along with my few in Turkish to ask us questions. When we left an hour or so later they sent us on our way with more food for dinner later on, something we were even more grateful for than usual since all we had with us was our “emergency” rice as we hadn’t passed any stores that day.
Someone recently described Iran as a country where “you will be treated better by a stranger than by a friend back home in the West” and time and time again Turkey has proven that same thing to us. Coming from the “closed door” and “stranger danger” culture found in the west, it’s a breath of fresh air experiencing such hospitality and openness towards strangers, something Kevin and I are excited to be at the giving end of someday in the future.
“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
― William Martin: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents