And So It Begins...

Not even a year ago...if you'd have told me I would be sitting in the Nashville airport on July 26, 2013 waiting to board a flight to DC to begin my adventure in serving with the Peace Corps in Africa, I'd have asked you what you'd been smoking. 

And here I am. Sitting nervously and alone at the gate waiting for the one-way-ticket plane ride to Washington DC. This is my first time to fly alone....you see, I was supposed to leave with the whole group last Monday....but some cosmic force decided I should get severely ill just days before my leave date. I go with the flow pretty easily, so of course this didn't get me down. Fortunately, I won't have to make the trek all the way to Africa alone because another volunteer had passport issues (yea, I feel guilty using the words "fortunately" and "passport issues" in the same sentence....but come on, it's better to have someone next to you when you're about to change the rest of your life), therefore we get to fly together. 

All of this has become very real now. Before today the concept of leaving home for 27 months hadn't quite solidified in my mind. Now I feel like I can reach out and grab it. With the tears of my mom's goodbyes, my day's stoic composure yet heartfelt hug, and the look in Tim's face as he finally understood he had to let me go, my dream to travel and help people has become a reality. 

I feel an incredible amount of appreciation for my friends and family and even for a few strangers that helped me get to this point in my life. There are no goodbyes, just see ya laters. And I can promise that after this experience I will have even more to offer the world. This blog entry is the first of many to come, and I hope that all of you will be interested in my journey delivered in the most raw and realistic way. 

See ya later, Nashville. You've been good to me.