MACHETES, CHICKENS AND BANANAS

I've always been fascinated with people who can carry stuff on their head. I was not born with the gift of headbalancing awesomeness. I also cannot breakdance, whisper to animals, or burp the alphabet. In fact there are a gazillion things that don't come naturally to me.

In Haiti I saw women and men carrying a variety of crazy stuff on their head. One lady was carrying a colossal mass of bananas on her head. Barefoot. Up a mountain path. With a big waterjug. And a machete (awesome) in her purse.

And another gal was carrying a massive basket on her head through a crowded street. And it was filled with chickens. Live chickens. And they didn't try to get out. Maybe she was a chicken whisperer.

Oh, and this one guy was carrying chairs on his head. But not stacked up like I might carry them. They were all branchy. Like a tree.

Everywhere I looked people were carrying stuff on their head. It's a pretty normal thing in Haiti. And I suppose that if I had to walk everywhere, and go banana hunting to feed my kids, I would probably own a machete (awesome) and I would carry stuff on my head. Not because it was my gift, but because it was survival. This is reality in her world.

In my world, I don't get up in the morning and pack up my machete (awesome) and head to a banana tree and get to work. Instead I get up, pack my lunch and head to my gray cubicle and get to work. Because that is reality in my world.

And I was wondering today what she would write about if she drove through the streets of Medford, Oregon. And I was also wondering if it's weird that I kinda would like to have a machete.

Awesome.