Welcome to the second edition of “5 Thoughts from Dustin.” We hope you enjoy the inner workings of my calm, collected, introvert husband as he processes life on a ship, in Africa, serving as an electrician. Again some days his five thoughts are more like two or three. He doesn’t often volunteer his thoughts without me asking. Thus the gap in thoughts when I was on night shifts last week. His thoughts are in black and my extra information is in (green).
September 13th
I definitely prefer when we are not around tons of people. After taking Dustin to the local market for the first time. Mind you this was a CALM market. It wasn’t shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip people as in some of the West African Markets.
My artistic crafting abilities are amazing! Many people wonder if we are allowed off the ship and what we do in our free time. A few weekends ago eight of us from the ship went to learn the art of papermaking from a local gentleman. He explained how he dries the bark from the local Avoah or Havoah tree. The bark is then cooked to soften it. The cooked bark is then pounded into a pulp consistency. The pulp is then spread into thin sheets on a wooden frame or canvas. It is decorated with flowers and leaves. Then dried in the sun. Dustin was hilarious and had all the gals with us laughing. He was the first to start decorating his paper and exclaimed, “My artistic crafting abilities are amazing!” As he threw pieces of leaves and flowers randomly on his paper and the rest of us painstakingly arranged flowers to attempt to make a beautiful creation such as the examples the papermaker displayed for us.
I miss Idaho Pepsi. Wandering in town a few weeks ago, we had a Pepsi Sighting! Dustin was elated! Going weeks without any caffeine and working in the heat, was wearing on Dustin without his daily dose of Pepsi. We were wandering down a dusty street, turned the corner, and like a lighthouse shining the way on a dark night, I spotted a Pepsi logo! Dustin was so excited. We bought a few bottles to take back to the ship with us. The elation faded as Dustin learned the local recipe for Pepsi is not the same at his beloved Pepsi from home. They add fake sugars, sucralose and aspartame, which Dustin calls rat poison. They add these to regular Pepsi, not just diet Pepsi! He’s very disappointed. He tried a few bottles, they hurt his stomach. So, no good.
I definitely need a haircut. I woke up from a nap to find Dustin in the bathroom trying to cut the back of his hair with his lanyard around his hairline to make a line to follow. Ha-ha. I offered to help him and go with him to a local place. He’s not yet up for that adventure.
Who knew 7:30am is sleeping in? Dustin, thankful his body clock finally allowed him to sleep in until 7:30am on a day off, he had been waking up before 6:00am and didn’t need to.
September 14th
I have a lot of food for thought. That’s all he said, nothing more.
September 16th-September 19th- I worked my first night shifts in 7 years! Dustin got off easy as I didn’t ask him many questions those days as I was working and sleeping.
September 19th
The thoughts were slow coming, so I asked a few questions to see if that prompted any conversation from Dustin. “Did you enjoy your day?” “I guess.” “What did you do?” “We played with the lifeboat some.” “Was that better than sitting in your closet all day?” “No, that would have been cooler.” “Oh, sweetie, we can’t win for you!”
“I was trying to look for fuses in the operating room. Learned that a fuse would never work since the solenoid valve burned out a coil.” “Was that fulfilling work?” “I don’t know. I was outside the entire time.” “What did you mean by that?” “I thought it was going to be a quick deal. It wasn’t.” “So, you didn’t go into the OR?” “ I didn’t have to.” “So, did you help solve the problem and trouble shoot?” Well, it was helpful that I was outside and could run for parts.” “So you were the gopher, gophers have a purpose too.” After this Dustin told me the OR has Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. He spied them when helping down there with the electrical job. Reese’s are his absolute favorite. Dustin’s lunch snacks every day at home consisted of either a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup or a plain Hershey’s Chocolate Bar. We have had no sightings of either Reese’s or Hershey’s up to this point. The ship shop used to import them for crew to buy, but none to be found this time around. As a loving wife, I went to the OR office to get Dustin’s Gatorade bottle refilled with distilled water from the Sterile Processing Department. That’s how we are getting distilled water for Dustin’s CPAP machine. Had I known we needed to provide our own bottle for the distilled water before coming, I would have brought a different container. Alas, a cleaned out, empty Gatorade bottle works as well. When I was waiting for the distilled water to be brought back from Sterile Processing, I asked the OR staff if they still had Reese’s and if I could buy one from them. Sadly, they were all gone. I told them they are my husband’s absolute favorite and he saw them when on the electrical job a few days before. They said he could have had one; all he had to do is ask!
September 20th
I wasn’t looking for it. Dustin’s response to seeing the end of a breastfeeding session live and in person on the side of the road. We were in a tuk, tuk, local transport, and I saw an adorable baby with their Momma. I waved, and then realized I saw a giant breast, the baby’s cute little face, and a sewing machine as the Mom sat in the dirt. This is VERY common place here. Breasts are not viewed as purely sexual here. They are nutrition. In West Africa, I saw breast feeding moms and topless moms frequently. This was the first time in Madagascar. I wanted to check if Dustin was okay. He first denied that he saw the breast. I assured him, he was not in trouble if he saw it. I didn’t know how he couldn’t have seen it. Then he admitted, he saw it, but “I wasn’t looking for it!” My sweet man.
It was bumpy. Dustin talking about the bumps, humps, potholes, and weaving in and out of traffic, riding in the tuk tuk from destination A to B in town. I told him he liked four wheeling and off-roading, so we’re doing some of his favorite things. Although we were ON the main road.
I hoped the tuk tuk was taking us where we wanted to go. Dustin was a tad wary that the driver of the local transport would actually deliver us to our desired destination. He did.
My wife is an extrovert. I know Dustin loves to play card games. In the evenings on the ship, many gather to play cards and board games. Dustin was invited to play with a gentleman from South Africa and I told him to go. He wanted me to go as well. I told Dustin I would be very happy having a nap and a quiet evening in my cabin. But, I wanted Dustin to enjoy something he loves. So I went, so he’d go. Then he calls me the extrovert!
I don’t know if I want to make friends. A reality of ship life, an ever revolving door of crew arriving and departing. Your 3 months commitment will not be the same as another person’s. Their two year commitment could end as yours is beginning. The challenge of embracing each day, where you, with the knowledge that we may not have tomorrow. But, self protecting knowing grief may come if you make a friend and then they leave. Shakespeare continues to provide the question to this: Is it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all? I am going to love!
We could take out the toilet paper and Kleenex from the bathroom and make it a giant shower. Dustin reflecting on the VERY small shower size and the fact that a lot of the water escapes the shower curtain at times. His solution. Why use your two minutes to fight keeping the water in the miniature shower stall. Just remove the permeable items and enjoy your shower. Everything else is waterproof!
“Did it bother you that someone asked you what language was your first language?” “Nope.” My sweet, soft spoken husband has a great filter, he is an internal processor, and thinks before he speaks. Someone on the ship asked him today what his first language was as they were expecting him to respond faster.
September 22nd
“Even in Africa a little rain must fall.” “Are you being poetic?” “I guess so because we were trying to work on a system that is like 400 volts.” “So what are you saying by this statement?” “It was wet. It wasn’t hot.”
I don’t have many thoughts for today.
There’s a big empty box and it’s huge. “In your head?” “Yeah.”
It will get easier sometime.
Communication. In marriages, departments, the ship as a whole. I love hearing Dustin talk about the importance of communication. It is actually one of my favorite words. I ask him to communicate more with me, to others, for our business, explaining that a lot of tension and concerns can be easily avoided or maneuvered with clearer communication.
September 23rd
I don’t have any thoughts yet for today (at 1025am).
“What are you working on today?” “Lights on deck 4.” “Well, does that feel good to be doing electrical work?” “Yes.”
I found an area on the ship that’s hotter than the shop. (That’s where I was working today). ☺
What are more thoughts I could have?
Profound thought. This is probably why I don’t write on my Facebook page. Because when the top of the page on Facebook says, what’s on your mind, I’ve got …Nothing!
September 24th
It’s chicken strip day! The menu has been stretching for Dustin’s plain palate. He is thrilled when we have chicken strips! He was very pleased to have lasagna on the menu a few days ago. He grinned ear to ear and rated the meal 10/10 when we had hamburgers and fries! I gave him my portion to save for another meal. He was VERY thankful.
Nice to see my team members happy today. He noted a pep in the step of his team members that he hasn’t seen lately. Happiness breeds happiness.
This could be the calm before the storm. Dustin is noting the ebb and flow of his position. More relaxing days are not a bad thing when having to scurry on other days when things need rapid attention.
I wish my Scutie wasn’t sick. Over the past few years, when Dustin would text me or call me he would refer to me as Sweetie or Cutie. One day autocorrect got the best of us and wrote “Scutie.” A combination of Sweetie and Cutie. He has referred to me as Scutie since then. I have been sick since Sunday evening. There’s a respiratory bug going around the ship and it’s found me. I am more than just post night shift worn out. I am exhausted. Napping most of the day and sleeping at night as well. Coughing a lot. Bless my poor neighbors. Dustin comes in the cabin for a break and says he can hear me coughing from down the hall. Please pray for a fast recovery. I want to work and serve! Thankful for the window in our cabin. I have a precious, coveted view of the dock. We are in the middle of maxilla facial surgeries. I can tell this by watching patients come and go on the dock. This is an incredible patient population. To an untrained eye, one might not notice anything. But, after pondering for a second, one remembers it is hot; there is no reason to wear scarves this time of year. These scarves are not part of attire known for those from Middle Eastern religions. Behind those scarves are incredible humans, made in the image of God, but hiding tumors protruding off their faces, the size of cantaloupes, some bigger. Some patients do not have their faces covered. I love that they have felt a sense of peace, acceptance, and love here allowing them to feel free to come out from hiding and take their seat at the table of the human race. I asked Dustin if he saw the patient on the dock on Friday with a large tumor. I said, “it was big, wasn’t it?” He said, “Yup.” See the VERY moving attached videos. Stories captured by our professional communication team here in Madagascar years ago. All credit to the communication team. Warning the videos show real images of humans with large tumors. Mercy Ships receives permission to share the story of patients as their surgeries are free and we raise money on behalf of patients by telling their stories. Part one and two of a maxilla facial surgery patient’s journey in a few years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAjBo7ybCWA and https://youtu.be/I0cVIbIkR-0?si=c0M5Tisd8r0WmOYc
My pinkies are ridiculously short. They barely make it out of my coverall sleeves. I guess sometimes it may be better not to ask what Dustin is thinking about. Ha-ha. Yes, he has very short pinkie fingers. We measured them and compared them to my second toe. My second toe is longer. It appears Dustin is missing an entire knuckle’s worth of finger on his pinkies. I love him!
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