Last week a color photograph fell out of a book in Maine that showed my family, sitting in the sun on wooden chairs around a hotel pool in Antigua Guatemala in the ‘70s, a dormant volcano in the background – just like this photo.
Today I work with a university in Guatemala to develop a new course about food systems design. In the process, I’m adding another layer to my story that began to unfold in the
‘70s. I am in the process of designing a meal for their students and for a university conference; I work with a chef and gastronomist to design a food experience that reflects Guatemalan culture and geography.
Some stories bear repeating and most repeat in spite of ourselves. We think that life rolls forward in unexpected ways, always accreting new stories. I’m discovering that our stories are always in motion, even if the threads disappear for a time, sometimes a long time.
I’m following this thought of how threads from our past weave into our future in my next Substack newsletter (out next week!), and how we don’t notice events in our lives coming full circle until we pause and reflect.
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