"If someone loves a flower, of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars. He can say to himself: 'Somewhere, my flower is there....'" - The Little Prince by St. Exupery

Scott threw himself a going away party on Thursday. He will be leaving California shortly after running the L.A. Marathon on March 2nd which only gives me a week and a half to hangout with him and then I will not see him again for two and a half years. I hope he will at least have email access in East Timor. I feel very anxious about his next adventure there. Unimaginable ostrocities have happened in East Timor before they finally became indepent of Indonesia. Still, they are on the same island as West Timor which is still part of Indonesia and then there is the pending war on Iraq. I am tremendously concerned for Scott's physical safety. Part of me wishes that he would not go but he said that he didn't want fear to rule his life. I try not to think so negatively about his departure but I can't help but wonder if I will ever see him again. He said that he has been thinking about death too, whether it is just a final end in itself or if it is just a passage way into eternal life. And if the second is true, then death should not be feared but welcomed. But to me Scott is that flower whom I love, whose very life and existence gives me happiness and the courage to go on. I hope I can say to myself, "Somewhere Scott is there...." for a long time more to come. I will be praying for him everyday.