My 2 Second Shelf Life

OPA!

The other day I wrote this entry on the Children's Dance Troupe "Kriva Reka".
I took Mama and Tetka Ljuba to their performance last night.

After practically having to arm wrestle Tetka Ljuba, I paid the admission for all three of us. But, I knew that Tetka Ljuba would find a way to sneak money to me. She's stealthy that way.
At the end of the performance, she disappeared into the crowd, and reappeared 15 minutes later with a DVD, and announced: "Ya! I buy yu van too....now I pay yu bek..hahahah".
She's brutal.
Mama wanted to take a walk before the performance and visit the Church, next to the Serbian Centre. Tetka Ljuba didn't want to go. She wanted to go into the kitchen and talk to her Church lady friends.
Mama was worried about the good seats they had nabbed.
"Lay down on da chairs eef yu hef to! Bah don geev dem to nooobady!"

Pity me, wedged between the two of them for 3.5 hours.

Through some fluke of misunderstanding, we were there early, and the show started late.
We were in the front row, and Mama was seated next to the Consul General, which was a big thrill.
There were quite a few Othodox Priests in attendance last night, and I couldn't help but find the sight of a Popa in his long flowing robes, beard and gigantic crucifix excusing himself, and fumbling around under his robe for his cell phone.

Forgive me, but I find the sight amusing.
I also thought about the number of times these Priests had to endure people coming up to them and kissing their hands.

Bleh.


Decidedly, if you're an Orthodox Priest you absolutely cannot be a germaphobe.
I hope they carry hand sanitizer under those robes too.

But, on a serious note, Rada Micic's intro was both touching and poetic.
With tears in her eyes, and cracking voice, she said that these children were a reminder to us as a community how lucky we are to be here, and who we left behind.
She pointed out that these are some of the forgotten children of Kosovo, Serbian children who deserve to have the sun shine on their shoulders as well.

How inspiring to see their faces. They were glowing.
The sheer joy was just radiating from them...they were flying.

How easy and simple it is to forget that through a stroke of fate, I'm lucky enough (hear that Oprah!?!) to be stressed out with my trivial day to day matters, but safe.
Living in a secure country, and not dodging KLA sniper bullets in a place that has lost the interest of the world.

Was this entry "preachy"?
Perhaps.
But, yesterday I was reminded of how lucky I really am.