Saturday, October 23, 2010

Thoughts on Ani being away and giving back to Armenia

As the readers of this blog know our daughter Ani is in Armenia now with my in-laws who have a house in the Arabkir district of Yerevan and she loves it there. Ani is surrounded by neighbors and relatives who visit her on a daily basis, not to mention all the playmates she has acquired. The most important thing to me in this child's first 3 years of life is that she is surrounded by love, the second most important thing is that for the first time in 4 generations my side of the family has produced a native speaker of the Armenian language, I cannot express how important this is to me. My personal joy when I hear her recite Ayb, Ben, Gim or sing Mer Hayastan, is indescribable, it's the ultimate music to my ears. This is what it is all about as you know, for us in the Diaspora to refocus our attention not on ourselves, but back towards our culture, our free and independent motherland which is developing at an impressive rate. Many of our nations benefactors have made it their personal responsibility to contribute very generously and have helped our nation in ways that most of us will only spend our lives dreaming of being able to do.

For my part, I am stuck in a sort of cruel limbo. I acknowledge in my heart that God has clearly spoken to me and told me that I must dedicate my life's work to my nation, and I have not only accepted that, but embraced everything it means to me. I have accepted repatriation as a must, and I now see it as a great honor, and am truly excited about it. However, I simply haven't found the opportunity to make that next chapter in my life open.