Summer Has Come and Passed

Today feels a little sad for obvious reasons and I can't bring myself to write about the generally-noble-but-somehow-made-mundane-by-the-magnitude-of-this-day activities of my life, even this project.

This is the first time I have been in New York on September 11th since 2006, then the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks and, while I have never forgotten what I saw or experienced on that day in 2001, I have not felt as close to it as I do right now.  On a more positive note, I've not felt as much a New Yorker in years as I have since I've been back on this trip.  Bittersweet indeed.

Nevertheless, I continue to be hugely busy with The Toa Nafasi Project and have been working on a big update for this blog (and for my board of directors, and for my organizational consultant, and for my Tanzanian staff, and for my parents!), but I can never seem to find enough hours in the day to perfect my prose and send the damn thing off.  Fortunately, the "there's no hurry in Africa" mentality has stuck with me and I'm not giving into a typical Sarah freak-out....  Quite frankly, there's too much work to be done and the stakes are too high for me to have a meltdown right now!  So, I'm keeping calm and carrying on....  There is always tomorrow.

I'm just about to head off to bed but I'll leave you with actual proof that the IRS knows who I am, and inform you that I am thisclose to hiring a graphic designer for the branding of Toa Nafasi.  Tomorrow, I return to the Foundation Center to basically squat at their library and, over the weekend, I'll be reunited with one of my most favorite people in the world, Mary Gale Budzisz, the past president of the International Association of Special Education, who will be in the city for a UNICEF conference.  I'll try and get some time to write more about those aforementioned mundane activities o' mine by early next week.

So with a lil' old Green Day on this chilly early Fall night, I say, "Usiku mwema, lala salama, njozi njema...."

Summer has come and passed / The innocent can never last / Wake me up when September ends ....

.... As my memory rests / But never forgets what I lost / Wake me up when September ends ....

.... Ring out the bells again / Like we did when spring began / Wake me up when September ends ....