Taken For Granted.

I wake up every morning with a slight grin to my face, i toss and turn. Not quite ready to awaken and rise yet. So i lay and i think about all the things i am truly thankful for. I have a wonderful household with things that work and lights that turn on. but when i look around the place now reside in, the Dominican i see the happiest of people winking and smiling in every direction. But to see the way they live brings me to a frown. It amazes me how in joy people are when in reality they don't have much. It makes me open my eyes to an all new world with a different type of society.

By the time i leave my bed in the morning i realize i am standing on tile floor, not dirt. I walk to the bathroom and brush my teeth in a sink, not a river. I say hello to my mom who has a husband, not a different man every night. I get a huge filled with love, not a strangling feeling of love by a strange man.I jump on my computer with internet, as if it is permanent. But others simply don't need internet to keep busy. They use their minds, they get off there butt, and they create things to do. Something i am simply not use to. at least not since i passed the age of 10.

As the day passes i get dressed in clothes i didn't wear yesterday. And i play with my younger brother and sister who are not off to a day full of work. And i jump in the car with my family and we roam. We roam the streets of Sosua in "aww" nearly blinded by the things we see so spectacular and out of the ordinary. People who work long days, Ladies with 3-4 babies at the age of 23. A man whose just ran out of gas and is walking miles to the next town to where his home lies. But we look at these things and something they all have in common is.. they are smiling. Living life as if there is no tomorrow. Enjoying all that brings and comes to their lives. And grateful for the least of things. Here they call that life. I call it amazing.

And this is when i realize i am so glad to have a family who loves me, a house to call a home, a car to drive me places, and food to eat when i am hungry. The things i take as permanent are what others may dream of late at night hoping they do not have to awake from this slumber only to watch these dreams slowly fade away.

The USA has brought me to be a techno-holic. Life without some type of communitive technology is a life i cannot live. It has showed me how people can fake emotions and lie to others about what they truly are feeling. It has showed me how miserable people are. But here in the Dominican i see emotion flying through the vibes of life through every minute of everyday. Life here is full of laughter and happiness, truth and love. Its real here, its something pure. And until you truly give your self up for the things you take for granite you wont ever feel this vibe when walking the streets of your own country.

-Dejenee