Watch out for the purple poison dart frogs..pretty but deadly little suckers

After spending an entire day with my friends, whose nationalities I will refer to as a "garden salad" (a little bit of this, a little bit of that, some more of this, a little more of that..) at the Budapest Aquarium, I realize how very similar we are despite our most obvious surface differences. As we strolled through the exhibits housing reptiles, sharks, and cute little teeny tiny furry little monkeys, our conversations ranged from the topics of Islam to birthdays to family life to sports. But the subjects which ended up taking most of our breath were those of relationships and the people in our lives whom we care most about. Funny how much we wanted to relate to each other as humans--to share our hard times and our happy times, our losses and our loves with each other. For example take my Pakistani friend and his Islamic culture. Marriages often times find themselves with one husband a multiple number of wives whereas in my American culture, polygomy is considered ancient, disrespectful, and awfully patriarchal. Or in my Ukranian friend's case, she wears a special ring to signify and remind herself of the last time she confessed to an orthodox priest and in my Muslim friends' cases they speak directly to their god whom they believe resides very close indeed, in their own hearts. No middle man needed. I like that idea very much. Or meet my Armenian friend Grigor. I have proclaimed him my surrogate father-figure. Although upon first impression he appears a little rough around the edges, to be quite frank, like he could kill a grizzly bear with his bare hands and then eat it raw. Even the bones. But after some easy conversation, I have come to the conclusion that he is one of the sweetest men I have met. He talks openly and respectfully about his family and loved ones. Feel free to ask him for advice, you'll feel as if you just spoke with Dr. Phil and had the best therapy session of your life. He is a newlywed at 31, married last spring in Armenia. This is the best time he says, because the yellow flower blossoms cover the country. Picture this grizzly killing man frolicking through the valley of flower blossoms and you will get a good picture of him. Today he was gushing about the love of his life, 10 years his junior and of a different religion and culture, but he has never found someone who felt so similarly to him about life. His eyes teared up when he said how proud of her he is. She just got a promotion.

A gift really, is what today was.