As many people who read this blog know, yesterday my neighborhood received some really sad news. After years of fighting cancer, Dave Pratt passed away yesterday morning at 4:55 am. My younger brother answered the phone when I got the call from my dad, since I was up on the roof, and brought me my phone. Both of my brothers were there watching me while I cried as I heard the news and decided how to proceed with my day. Dealing with emotion is really different in Senegal. Crying is really only acceptable in the case of death. If people see you crying, they will assume that something really terrible has happened.
Explaining what happened to my brothers was really difficult. Mostly, it was hard to define my relationship with Dave for them, since I speak French with them. I still haven't told anyone else in my family here. Bebecheikh and Mohammed have been consistently asking me if I am still sad and trying to understand what I am going through. It's all very sweet and it's so interesting to see how 8 and 9 year olds process the idea of death.
If there was ever a time when I wished I was home with the neighborhood, this is it. I love you guys and I'm thinking of all of you, especially the Silverman-Pratts, constantly.
Hey Abbey....we were thinking of you and knowing how much you missed being here too. It was a beautiful, and mobbed, remembrance service, not a dry eye in the place. The worst is that today is Robyn's 50th (and of course your Dad's 6-0!) and really...how do you even say "happy birthday" in these circumstances...not to make you sadder or anything, just wanted you to know you were there in our minds.
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