The Anatomy of Peace

I recently finished two books -- The Anatomy of Peace and A Short Stay in Hell.

The first was a wise choice. I'm going to read it again and again. My sister, Julie, recommended it. And I will forever be grateful she did. The latter should have been saved for another time. Equally thought-provoking... one a tad more nagging than the other. 

Haunting and unsettling is perhaps not what I should have be going for as I grapple with the adjustments of an international move, the inability to ask Otto's teacher how he's doing at school, Netflix coming to Luxembourg only to have all of the text be in French, the reality of three small children, or a traveling husband. 

Both claimed to be able to change my way of thinking. And they were right. My mind will never be the same. 

But, I'm only human.

I'm going to forget what I read, and then I'll have to force myself to remember. And then I'm going to have to forgive France for trying to kick Netflix out of Europe, let go of the fact that I can't read a single piece of mail in our mailbox, be at peace about a body that had three babies in three years, take a deep breath every time Otto has a very public melt down about getting two grapes instead of three, or try to find more beauty in a place and in a chapter that won't last forever. 

We convinced Scott and Tracey Oliver to meet us downtown at the Taj Mahal for dinner one Saturday evening. Ben picked up Matlida Äberg in the neighboring village, Cessange, while I put Ingrid to sleep, and then we ran out the door with glee. 

Tracey warned us that the Taj was located in a questionable neighborhood and not to be surprised if we were offered drugs (maybe my favorite text, ever). 

After passing several groups of women who reassured us "they were working", we found a place to park and walked the several blocks across the seediest part of town known to man. We were rewarded handsomely. 

Best Indian food we've ever had; hands down. Changed our lives. 

Almost as much as those books I read. 

We ate and laughed and talked for three hours. And then Tracey told me that she knew she liked me the first time we met because I said hell. 

So many life-changing moments in Luxembourg. 

I'm so glad we came here. I'm so glad I read those books. I'm so glad we have friends that know about magical restaurants in shady parts of a European city. I'm so glad we have a little Swedish angel to watch our babies so Ben and I can walk down dark streets holding hands with my heart pumping with fear. 

And I'm so glad I have eons and eons of time -- so clearly outlined for me in one book -- to secure my own peace by following the principles outlined in the other.