-photo by mashriqi_boy

The photo above well illustrates a portion of a story my friend Sophie Blanc wrote for the most recent issue of catapult. The picture is of “Landa Bazaar” in Peshawar, Pakistan, but which has its equivalent in every Pakistani city. Does that first word sound familiar to you? The first syllable “lan” rhymes with “bun.” Yes, “London” it is, which is a sort of colonial stand-in for whatever Western country from which the cast-off clothes came in the first place. Now I understand where my love of thrift stores came from! I once got this great dark, blue wool cardigan with an argyle pattern from the very city, Jhelum, in which Sophie lived in Pakistan…but I digress.

Sophie’s article brings back so many vivid memories of my childhood in Pakistan and Murree Christian School, made all more the poignant by the great trial Pakistan is undergoing just now (please pray, if you are a pray-er). Her story depicts the very real deprivations of living as a child of missionaries, and then drills down deeper and considers the relative abundance missionaries often have compared to the people they serve. Finally, it ends with a cameo of a lovely, loving heart, which I shall not spoil for you.

I appreciate every bit of reflection in this piece, however my favorite part, which may seem rather trivial, is a depiction of time and place, which only people who have shared in it can fully, immersively “see” and re-experience. And, yet, anyone can get the lovely sense of sweet memory, which hopefully is an experience we all have from time to time. Oh, and Sophie also has a very fine blog. Check it out!

I remember the joyous feeling of going up to the dining room with money in my pocket to get a sloppy joe (bolognaise mince meat in a hamburger bun). The taste of sloppy joes in that particular room at that particular time on those particular plates will probably never be able to be recreated. The sweetish taste Pakistani buns, the tang of the mince meat, the sauce dripping everywhere only to be mopped up with the last bits of bun. Incredibly satisfying.