We are...

the world.  We are the children.  At least this Thursday we will be.  For the uninitiated, the second Thursday of every month is our WARTA (Watertown Area Retired Teachers Association--Thank god we don't live in Flandreau!) meeting.  And we are the program.  As I write, Cath is preparing a PowerPoint to take them through the Dark Continent Adventure we had earlier this year.  As arm candy, I will, on occasion, add an aside (SURPRISE!) as we share what has to this point in time been our most exotic experience.  It strikes me as odd.  I so thoroughly enjoyed the experience while we were there.  Everything went as assigned.  We saw giraffes!  We saw lions!  We saw et.cet. (an animal similar to a civet!)  But the further I get from the actual experience, the more I enjoy it!  Like life, at the time things happen they are simply there.  As one of our retired teachers proclaimed on her bracelet this past week, "It is what it is!"  But in retrospect, it is so much more.  Imagine a couple old farts going to Africa.  That by itself is amazing.  Imagine a couple old farts going to Africa and returning with no physical mishaps or impairments!  Again, amazing.  Imagine a couple of old farts going to Africa and living an experience neither of them ever imagined.  Amazing.  And now that we're home, we get to share that experience with others who may never be fortunate enough to go!  Hopefully, we will do it justice.  Hopefully, we will do it justice in 30 minutes or less!  And as long as I get to talk about the tsetse fly (and the fact that I didn't swat the one on Cath until I had taken a picture...and we are still married!) life will be good!  In retrospect, it is!  What it is!  And you are loved!