“Bone by bone, hair by hair, Wild Woman comes back. Through night dreams, through events half understood and half remembered…”
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With The Wolves

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This woman worked every single day for the two years I lived in Albania. She sold fruits and vegetables to me religiously and always did so with a kind smile and an encouraging word. These words I often did not understand, but one word she repeated over and over again; Mashallah, Mashallah. Originally a Turkish word, meaning “God has willed” or “as God willing”. It expressed appreciation, joy and thankfulness for a person.

Living in Albania taught me a million lessons, but the biggest one is that in every country, religion and culture there are good, loving, joyful people.

Mashallah to you!

 

We have fought for choice as women, but we have not impressed the importance of choice without judgement. Whichever direction she chooses there will be some amount of shame and guilt that follows her.

That is the modern women’s choice.

While living in Albania I was able to paint and draw some scenes that were considered mundane and not interesting. While sitting on this street corner I was passed by around twenty pedestrians that wondered why I was painting such a boring scenery. A car stopped to ask me what I was doing. From my perspective this tangled mess of wires was beautiful, electrifying and very different from my American upbringing. Moving around the world has let me see beautiful things that others might just pass by.