Tomorrow is the Day I Leave

It's a normal night. The Tour de France is cycling through my television. My sister is sitting next to me on the couch - the cozy leather couch on which I spent many a napping hour. Mom is sitting in the "Big Daddy" chair "ooh"ing and "ouch"ing the cyclists on; sucking in sharp breaths through her teeth whenever the corners are tight or the hill steepens. She jokes about my leaving and says I'm going to "oogah boogah land". My Dad is stressed and tired. We're trying to get as many dvds and cds on my computer and external drive and backup hard drive and usb keys as humanly possible. I can feel a headache coming on and like I've pulled my shoulder hoisting bags meant to keep me supplied for two years and three months. I'm leaving for Africa tomorrow.

Well, that's not entirely true. In 15 minutes 'tomorrow' will be today and technically I'm going to Philadelphia first.

Welcome to my blog. I'm leaving for the Peace Corps to serve as a Small Enterprise Development volunteer in Benin, located in West Africa. This is my blog which is part novella, part technical guide, part musings. As you'll discover, should you accompany me on this journey, there are a lot of parts to me and consequently lots of parts to this blog, so get over it.

As a semi-farewell I'm going to write about "my feelings" as Vasana calls it. That sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach where I realize all these people I've been speaking to daily for the last x number of years of my life are now going to be accessible very infrequently. The clamp that seizes my heart and pinches off my oxygen as I say goodbye to one family member and friend at a time. Like my sister said, "we were just finally becoming friends and now you're leaving." I am thankful for the time I've had at home and for the newest friends I have made. I am so excited to tell them all about what's going on in my life while we're apart and hear about theirs in exchange. It's just going to take a little time in Africa to remind me of that. Right now it hurts.