It's All Good
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Columbus Death Cafe/Lizzy Miles
Lizzy Miles from Death Cafe Columbus and Megan Mooney from Death Cafe St. Joe recently visited Hong Kong to take part in the International Conference on Grief and Bereavement in Contemporary Society presenting on Death Cafe. This coincided with the first ever Death Cafe in Hong Kong hosted by Ms. Pearl Tse, Ms. Carmen Yau, & Dr. Andy Ho.
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This trip has not been without its challenges. The flights were super long and just as we would fall asleep, the flight attendants would come on intercom and make a series of announcements in three languages. When we got to Hong Kong, Megan's luggage was there. For me there was a sign taped to a bin telling me to find a baggage person. My luggage was not going to in Hong Kong for another day. Normally not a huge deal, but when you have been wearing same clothes already for 24 hours, it is a worrisome situation. My ATM card did not work with three attempts and my wifi calling did not work at that time either. When we got to shuttle desk they said it would an hour and forty-five minutes to the hotel. Today when we went shopping, there was a downpour and we got lost in an area with few English signs. Public restrooms are hard to find. With all of these challenges we had a choice. We chose to accept the challenges with a smile. Not a 'grin and bear it', but genuine joy. It wasn't necessary a conscious decision at first. Then we recapped all that we had endured thus far and realized we were surprisingly upbeat. Perhaps it is the jet lag, but you might have even call us slap-happy. (A stranger in an elevator asked what we were "on"). No, we are just happy to be here. Happy to be alive. Life will never be perfect. The path is before us and we choose how to travel. We choose to keep it in perspective. Megan remarked today how similar everything is to home. I told her that is one way of seeing things. Some people see what is different in this world and others feel the connection to the universe. I believe the more connected one feels, the more positive one's outlook becomes. The lost luggage, the rain, the portapot squat...these are all fodder for storytelling. Do you tell the story of what went wrong? Or do you say, let me tell you what misfortunes we overcame? It is all good.
