Flight of the Stormcrow

I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time now; more specifically, the pictures were taken on the 9th of May 2009, at a Starbucks near the Athens Metropolitan Church. A company of friends gathered to say goodbye and wish a safe journey to Raven Sweetwater, a.k.a. Nozomi Sugihara, who would be leaving on the following day for the U.S.

Reasonably, one might wonder why we would gather with such urgency,, with such a feel of necessity, given that she is supposed to be gone for 20 days - until the end of May. Well, for one, it's a Greek thing and in her case, those of us who know how and why she has suffered for the past months, needed to see her off safely, so to speak. It is almost ritualistic, as if our gathering for a (temporarily) last outing, like we used to, will be a good luck charm for her to bear on her journey (not to mention that she needed all the encouragement she could get - she is friggin' terrified of planes).

Among the people gathered
were, of course, Kyoshiro and Flexxy...

...who took it upon himself to film the whole outing
(as if photos were not enough!)...

...the mighty KrizD -sensei...

...Chiroto (else known as
Master Betty), who brought disaster
the moment he stepped in there,
spilling 330 ml of whatever it was
Ploutonas was drinking, on the
ground...

...Ayami-chan...

...Didi...

...and the aforementioned Ploutonas,
among others (are you flashing us or
is it my idea? Dude...).

For my part, however, there was a thought lodged in the back of my head - involuntarily, as it often is and refusing to budge one inch: "she might not be coming back". Really, for all the company and friendship, for all the good days she might have had, her time here gave her a lot of grief and too much to deal with, too fast, too coldly, in the one place supposed to be a safe haven: home. In fact, I am not very sure she even considered having a home here, after a while.

Then, I started getting news from her, what she is doing in the U.S., how she spends her time. Then she started blogging again, started posting pictures of people and places and not one of them has been about Sugizo, her seeming obsession with whom has become sort of a frequent, well-humored, inside joke. Those last two posts were about herself, her own life, her own thoughts and contrary to what had become the norm, she seemed alive, happy, vibrant, not struggling against depression and madness, with her life coming apart and crashing down all around her ears.

One of many funny moments: Didi - yes, Didi! -
is on a diet (fer chrissake), so...

...the moment Ploutonas went to talk to Kyoshiro...

...she started oggling Ayami-s cheesecake dangerously!

Given the choice, what would you do? What would I have done? I have no idea, but that thought at the back of my head asserts its existence: she might not be coming back and I cannot really say as I blame her...

"Group photo, group photo!".
[KrizD has left
and here you can also see Sokail (top left),
myself next to him and Xander (top right).]

Safe travels Stormcrow, wherever they may lead you...

Speedgrapher