Another World

Ethan, Rob, and I had just returned from lunch when a flood of courage ripped through my spine. Confrontation is an irritating enterprise and I avoid it whenever possible, but I could not get Dorothy’s voice out of my head. The last time we had spoken her tone was flat and dull, yet ironically, her words pierced my mind, boring a hole of unending depth as if they had been an exaggerated shrill.

Dorothy claimed Ethan had already decided he’s leaving the country, though Ethan and I had yet to discuss the subject. After praying and praying about this, I saw no other solution than to confront my future husband.

“I’d like to have a private talk with Ethan,” I said, just before we reached the house.

Rob and Ethan nearly snapped their necks looking back at me. I suppose ‘private’ wasn’t the best choice of words, given the hazardous scene Rob stumbled upon the last time Ethan and I had a private moment. I furrowed my brow and thrust my good arm in the direction of the hanging front porch swing, implying that oh my goodness we would be outside and in front of the entire world for crying out loud. Rob conceded and went inside.

Ethan had no trouble relaxing into the bench. “What’s up Addie?” he asked.

I do love it when he uses my nickname, but I could not understand how he could be so casual at such a time as this.

“We should pick a date,” I said quickly.

“A date?”

“Yeah. A wedding’s a big thing. A girl’s gotta plan.”

Ethan took my hand into his. “Are you free next weekend?”

His smile expanded toward eternity.

“I’m serious,” I said, not smiling at all.

“So am I,” he replied. “Waiting is already difficult. Imagine how it will be when we’re overseas. We should marry before we go.”

“Before we go? Ethan, you act like we’ve already talked about this. I don’t remember agreeing to this plan of yours.”

“You’re right,” he replied. “We should talk about it.”

Ethan looked sheepishly toward the ground.

“So, how do you feel about it?” he asked.

“I feel like you’ve already decided.”

“Addie, your opinion matters. If you don’t want to go, we won’t.”

I glared at him and he at me, and I sighed heavily, and so did he.

“When would we leave?” I asked.

“The assignment begins in January.”

“You’ve already committed?”

“No,” said Ethan. "My mentor, the one who’s setting up this Doctors Without Borders assignment—he’s waiting for me to reply.”

“January!” I said, wondering if I would have my cast removed by then.

Ethan grinned like a little boy at Christmastime.

“How long?” I asked.

“One, maybe two years,” said Ethan, pinning his eyes to mine.

He kissed my hand delicately, “But you can return as often as you need, if you get homesick, or need a break.”

“It’s a lot to think about,” I said, the decision crashing through my mind: Leaving Rob, my little sister Mary, and all my friends.

Walking away from the best job I’ve ever had.

Wait—was that all there was for me to leave behind? Could my entire life be wrapped so simply? Weighing my present life against a future one in which I’d be living adventurously as the wife of the man I love more than anything on earth—

The decision was painless. With a grand smile and a little nod, I agreed to make my fiancé the happiest man alive. I committed to travel with him to another world, one that was unspeakably different from mine.



Ethan and I have since picked our date.  On Saturday, January 7th, we will be married in New Zealand!

Caddie and Phil will already be there and have offered to help set everything up.  (Actually, Caddie has quite taken over all the wedding plans, which is a tremendous blessing.)

After two weeks in New Zealand paradise, Ethan and I will fly to our new temporary home in Somalia and there we will stay for one, maybe two years.


KAC

The purple earth image above is by nionx @: http://morguefile.com/archive/display/58093