I just finished watching Portugal beat England in penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals of the World Cup. Wayne Rooney, you are a dirty, dirty man. And the striker England subbed in around the 70th minute is one ugly fellow. But that doesn't matter now; Portugal advances, Aho laments, and two hemispheres away a college student is kissing his television.
That last bit was a reference to Stuart Carolisson, a college student in Cape Town whose family hosted me on our mission trip to South Africa two years ago. While I was there, Portugal beat England on penalties in the quarterfinals of UEFA 2004 (basically the World Cup, but only for European teams). and Stuart dropped to his knees and kissed the television after Portugal's keeper scored the winning shot (that's right, the keeper). That shootout was also memorable becasuse David Beckham, International Man of Mystery, lead off the festivities by missing the goal by about six feet. The match (which was of much higher quality than today's affair) lasted well into the night in Cape Town, and I remember looking at all of our group members the next morning and guessing which of them came from a Portugal house and which from England. The Portugese crowd were in considerably higher spirits.
Watching the match prompted me to do something I haven't done in two years; I emailed Stuart to catch up. I can't tell you why it's taken me so long to do this, except that I think I tried once and sent my message to the wrong address. I'm so blasted awkward on written correspondence, I usually just give up and don't write at all (hence, I'm still working on thank-you notes for graduation presents). But I wrote to Stuart today, and hopefully, should he still have this same email address, he'll respond in less than two years.
South Africa was an incredible experience for me; I hope I don't let the friendships and relationships I acquired in less than two weeks slip away because of awkwardness or sloth. As I contemplate the future, I'm beginning to see the value of long distance relationships. Sure, they're hard, but they're rewarding as well. Most of my current friendships are anchored by geographic convenience; soon that prop will be pulled away and I fear I haven't built a strong enough foundation for them to stand on their own. Wow, I didn't intend that sentence to be as figurative as it was. I apologize.
