Margie filled with Mudita

Mudita is a word out of Buddhist tradition: sympathetic joy, or joy in the good fortune of others. Delighting in the well-being of another without self-interest. That's what I see in Margie today.

She's bouncing with delight because her son is about to go on a trip that thrills her. Listening to it, I'm thrilled too.

He's going to Ethiopia, and we spent much of our time today talking about where he's going and rejoicing in his good fortune. He and his friend have chosen a travel agency called Awaze, and they will have three weeks in cars, planes, boats, and mules, traveling all over Ethiopia. Camping among camel caravans in the desert, staying at a lodge in the mountains, delivered to a massive basket market, they will be led by Ethiopian guides who know the languages and customs, the markets, the religions, the different ethnic groups and their practices, and the ancient and complex history of this large and various country. I am agog, just thinking about it. Monasteries on islands in a great lake where hippos bathe, ancient stelae, churches and mosques, hermitages perching on red stone cliffsides or dug deep into a rockface. I told her I want to see ALL his photos, even if they are all taken with his phone. 

"It's almost like going with him," she told me, her eyes shining with excitement.