“I just can’t believe I’m actually here.” Strolling the ancient streets of Rome and inhaling the breathtaking beauty of Capri, my 100% Italian husband, Dale, was beside himself. A dream, nearly fifty years in the making, became a reality: Dale and I finally toured Italy.

I have another life. It’s a life I love but it’s not a life I own. It’s a borrowed life; on loan from the African soil. It isn’t mine to keep.

It’s a life where a rooster unapologetically announces the morning and simple moments tug at my arm to take notice.

Well, it finally happened. I guess deep down I always knew this day would come. My faithful pink and white Crocs, sandals I took on every trip to Africa, finally gave out. Ironically enough, after all, I put them through in a decade of use, they simply split walking around my kitchen.

Americans will spend more than 450 billion dollars on purchases that accompany the Christmas season. We go to great lengths to find the perfect gift: take laps around the mall, scroll through the monstrosity of Amazon, or, alas, pick up the last-minute Starbucks gift card.