A Reflection by Kyle:
I sat quietly on the floor, nervously waiting for a response from the Sari Bari ladies. I had just told them that I would soon be leaving our Sari Bari family to return to the States, to be with my family there. I had no idea what their response might be. I was afraid of their reply. I had been dreading this conversation for days, months, thinking through it many nights on end. Slowly, they began to speak, to ask questions. They quietly understood what I was saying. I starred at the ground. I waited. I had nothing more I could say. To come bearing such news was agonizing.
And then it happened. The women began consoling me. “Don’t worry yourself sick,” they said. “We understand.” Eyes locked as their love lifted my head. I had come dreading their questions, wondering how to give answer, how to console. And in my silence, they were so gracious. Words of grief and frustration could easily have been spoken by them about my forthcoming departure, but they affirmed my struggle with the decision and the sadness that came with it. Countless times I have known their love in the smaller moments we share together; when they worry about how little I’m eating and when I seem bothered or tired. That day I understood a love much deeper, one which I could never forget.