Remember that time.

Remember that time you were thoroughly impressed that the restaurant staff were actually cleaning the tables, until you noticed that they were cleaning them with insecticide.

Remember that time you saw the moto driver chug a beer, place the bottle back on the bar, put his helmet on and go to work. (Eeek.)

Remember that time Zackhshowed what his director’s cut of Troy would look like on the projector screen, cutting down almost 3 hours into a 25 minute highlight reel.

Remember that time you came home late from watching a World Cup game and your cat was nowhere to be seen, but after searching your entire property you finally found her high up on a branch of your avocado tree crying and meowing, unable to get down; and it only took 45 minutes, a lot of coaxing with cat food and you finally scurrying up the tree branch at midnight to get her safely back on the ground.

Remember that time you came home again to a missing cat and found her either fighting or frolicking with a stray cat amongst your vegetable garden; and that you woke up at 3am to find the stray cat meowing outside your window, hoping Pili could come out to play again.

Remember that time you bucket bathed and washed your hair on the same day (and for the first time in too many days to even mention here) and you jumped into the CCHIPs car and Lauren exclaimed “oh my goodness, you smell like marzipan”. Maybe you should bathe more often?

Remember that time you wished you hadn’t walked into town and weighed yourself down with three bags of food for the long trek home, but then suddenly looked up and saw Mbonesa, your driver, who stopped, pointed to the front seat, and gave you and all of your bags a much needed ride home.

Remember that time you caught your 4 year old neighbor wearing a plastic bag on her head like a chef’s hat and using sugarcane to “conduct” the cornstalks in front of her.

Remember that time you went to Gorillas hotel on a very cold day for internet and mentioned to your waitress how cold you were, and within 10 minutes had yummy hot chocolate, mini waffles to snack on and a blanket over your lap, all courtesy of your lovely hotel friends.

Remember that time you discovered that your garden was in fact producing yummy but mutant carrots the size of your forearm.

Remember that time your favorite bank teller was wearing a pin stripe suit with matching bright pink shirt and tie, and you got to use your favorite Kinyarwanda compliment: Wambaye neza! (which means, “you put on clothes well!”)

Remember that time you realized you live just off of Umuhanda w’Amahoro, which means Street of Peace.

Remember that time you were putting on the lotion that your grandma sent, once again saying “geez, this lotion is the weirdest lotion ever” and then looked at the bottle and realized that it was in fact body wash, not lotion at all.

Remember that time you went into the bathroom at the bar and realized there was (as usual) no toilet paper, but then remembered that you actually had two rolls of toilet paper in your bag that you’d just bought at the store. Good timing!

Remember that time Mama Providence brought you an entire bag of ibigori (corn) so the next day you decided to return the favor by giving her a bunch of ibitoki (plantains), and what started as Providence and three children in your yard turned into every child from your neighborhood invading your compound talking, laughing and singing. If only you’d been able to capture on video the hilarity of Providence whacking at a tree with a machete while two dozen children hung from the branches of your avocado tree.

Remember that time you were walking to work and noticed that all the corn had been cut down and maybe you needed to think of a new name for the Children of the Corn.

Remember that time you were about to tell the middle-aged man in the full suit, tie and shiny shoes that he looked smart, but then he turned around and you noticed his messenger bag was plastered with pictures from High School Musical.

Remember that time the sewing kit your mom sent you actually came in handy, as you and three of your friends went to work putting new wicks into your kerosene stove and your foyer began to resemble something more like an operating room with people calling out “thread, scissors, pliers!” much like they would “suture, scalpel, forceps!”. That grilled cheese sure was worth it though!

Remember that time your shoes, hairbrush, stove and bed all broke in the same week. Yeah, that sucked.

Remember that time you had some friends in town for a training and they were staying at a super nice hotel, so you borrowed one of their keys and had what was probably the best hot shower of your entire life. And don’t forget later that night when you ended up actually sleeping at the hotel in her king size bed and watching CNN on the television.

Remember that time you woke up from a nap curled up with the cat and realized you may not be only a dog person after all.

Remember that time you walked out of your gate and three separate groups of children yelled “Amy” while grinning and waving like crazy, and you fell in love with your life just a little bit more.

Remember that time you reached the final page of your journal and decided to re-read what you had written from cover to cover, once again experiencing the ups and the downs, the good times and bad, from the mundane to the extreme, and everything in between. And remember when you got to one of the most difficult entries and a butterfly fluttered through your window into your room. Remember, you’re never alone.