Here’s another email from my Egypt trip in 2000 . . .
Welcome to my third and final letter about Egypt. Let’s see if I can remember two weeks ago. Last I left off we had just arrived in Luxor. We saw tons of stuff in Luxor in the two days we had there. . .
In the fall of 2000, Carol and I had a three week adventure in Egypt. It was a life-changing trip. I had been to Europe before but never to the exotic Middle East. The architecture, colors, smells and sounds transported me to another time – like being on an old movie set. It reeked of ancient stones and civilizations. Some of the ruins we visited were 3000 years old. When I entered these stone temples, I would walk up to the wall and observe the carvings, sometimes with bits of color, and imagine the person decorating the massive structures. I pictured them in white long flowing gowns, speaking a language I couldn’t understand. When the guide wasn’t looking, I would sneak a touch of the walls just to try to feel the history. Before the trip, I had no knowledge of Egypt and after, the mythology fascinated me. My photos are tucked away in albums but now want to scan and post them . . . so that’s one of my goals in 2010 – daunting but doable. I posted a couple of them on my flickr site. I can’t wait to go back and also explore other regions in the area. I came across a couple of emails that I sent while on the trip and decided to post them . . .
“Jim, how long do you plan on lying here feeling sorry for yourself?” Jim’s mother got up from the side of his bed and opened the curtains. She turned the television off and then tugged at the bottom of her jean jacket. “It’s been a week. I would think that you would be relieved, not having to go to that job.” Jim felt too weak to respond.
“Coffee Gail?” Shelly came in with two mugs and handed both of them to Jim’s mom. Gail nodded and smiled at Shelly. She wrapped her fingers around the mug handles, careful not to bump her large stone rings that lined some of her fingers.
Gail’s long cotton dress floated over to Jim’s beside. He sat up, rubbed his face and reached for the coffee. Shelly went back into the kitchen and then returned with a mug for herself. She leaned against Jim’s dresser. Shelly had been the one to call Gail to get Jim up. Gail told Shelly that when Jim was young, it wasn’t uncommon that Jim would become depressed . . .
Jim was sitting at his desk on the showroom floor checking personal email. He started chuckling at a ridiculous email about men and women. When it came to men and women, the men seemed to be the butt of the jokes. Shelly had sent him the joke and knew if the tables were turned, she wouldn’t be laughing. He started to reply to her but then was tapped on his shoulder. He jumped . . .
Jim’s tall, lanky frame had made him a target in his teenage years. It didn’t help that he wore glasses with thick black frames when wire frames were the style. His mother bought them at an estate sale and told him that he looked arty. All he could think about was the dead guy who wore them before. Plus, Jim wasn’t convincing as an arty type of guy. He couldn’t keep up with his successfully arty mom. He wasn’t smart, either. The glasses might have given that illusion but he was a mediocre student. Straight Cs.
Fast forward ten years to a different Jim in his mid twenties. He had the same lanky body, but it had started to mature and fill out. The pimples were gone and he was left with a decent enough looking face. The kind of face that women usually just wanted to be friends with but Jim had developed a confident attitude . . .
