The Wild ride back to Addis Ababa

On the 31st, we packed up and headed back to Addis Ababa. Although our plane didn't leave until the evening of the 1st, Mike and Amy had some business in Addis Ababa. Little did I know that Mike, Amy, and Tex had a surprise for me for my birthday (which Tex and I agreed not to mention in order to keep Amy from feeling like she had to do anything special). As we headed back to the Missionary House, Mike took another turn and pulled in to the Addis Ababa Sheraton, the nicest hotel in all of Ethiopia. Roses and Flox line the property, fancy french pastries, all the hot water you can use! It is right across from the Prime Minister's home, the most powerful politician in the country, so it is used for many visiting dignitaries. Super Fancy. As we pulled up and the kids cheered at the mention of the beautiful swimming pool (with no cow manure, the kids pointed out amongst themselves), a lump grew in my throat. It was too much for me. I did my best to hide it, but it threw me back into my amazingly luxurious life too quickly and I had difficulty holding back tears most of the day. Why is that I am born into this American life through no effort of my own? Why is the Ethiopian woman wating at clinic to get food rationed out for her child born into that life? Luck? God's Plan? It has always been a question of reflection for me, but never so powerful as I took a 45 minute scalding hot shower at the fancy hotel. Never has it hit me so hard as when I diliberated over the twenty-some possibilities for my dinner, the price of which would be a couple of weeks, or maybe even a month's salary, for the Ethiopians I had met over in Langano. The life I have always known slowly settled back onto me as the evening wore on, and it bothered me less and less. That is what I hated the most.