My Fields of Dreams

Every Monday and Wednesday afternoon, during my time in Romania, my collegues, Lenuta, Jody, Vali and I, would drive to a town called Alexandria to a girls’ orphanage. We’d spend time doing various things with them and then would head home around 5:30 or 6 in the evening in order to be home in time for our next committment. The drive from Rosiorii de Vede to Alexandria seems incredibly similar to a driving from one midwest town to another. And in fact, during those times I was often reminded of home and that drive felt so normal, and familiar and somehow safe. There are huge fields on both sides of the road for much of the drive. If you look out the window you’ll see people from the country (taranii) digging up potatoes with hand tools. You’ll see a horse or donkey plowing a long line. In Autumn, you’ll see cabbages as big as basketballs piled as high as they can balance on a cart. Towards the end of summer, you’ll see watermelons as bright and beautiful as the colors in the gypsy girl’s skirt, whose family owns the field.

Our rides home were often quiet ones. Our minds were emptied of conversation, just as our stomachs were empty of food. But there were always the thoughts. How can these girls be helped? What should I make for dinner?? Do I have time to cook some chicken or should i just make tuna salad sanwiches? What are my friends back home up to? Is the living room ready for the boys to come over for Bible Study? Do we still have underwear hanging on the clothes line on the balcony?

As I was in the car today, returning some things to the library, I passed an open field. It was a little before 6 and there was sort of a fog over the rows where the corn grew last fall. I was flooded with Romania. The sights, the sounds, even the smells. If I didn’t pay real close attention, I could imagine that Honda to be a Dacia, and that Cavalier to be a Dacia! And that VW to be a Dacia. Just about that time, I saw a big Mercedes van...you know...the big white transports that are all over Europe. I pulled into the library parking lot and hit eject on my CD player. I glanced at the CD and then decided The Gipsy Kings were worth the late fee. Besides, they were keeping my dream /memory in step.