October 7. We finally know the day we'll be leaving the country to begin our journey. My flight leaves Oct. 4 from ATL to LAX, and I plan on staying with some awesome squadmates in LA for a couple of days until launch.
In one month, I'll be on a plane heading to Guatemala and begin the most intense and worthwhile journey of my life. We'll be in Chimaltenango working with Los Gozosos (The Joyful Ones), working with and teaching children and special needs children.
I'm beginning to acknowledge things as "The Last" before I leave. The last Auburn football game, the last day of work, the last trip to the lake with friends (alas… it did not happen), the last meal at Chik-fil-A (woah woah… that'll be on October 4!).
Some are more difficult… the last trip to Auburn (it's been planned), where I'll see some of my best and strongest relationships for the last time before I disappear for a year. It's a sobering moment being swept up in the unknown. What will happen in that year? Where will they be? Where will *I* be? Will those friendships strengthen? Will they fade?
A year is a long time. People ask me what are you nervous about, and while I shouldn't be concerned about it, if I answer anything besides "nothing," it's "what'll my life be like when I get back?"
When people ask me what I plan on doing when I get back, I answer nonchalantly, "I can't answer that."
I'll be gone for a YEAR. The World Race is not something you do and then get back and go back to the humdrum life you had before. I hope my priorities change, I hope my disposition on life and the way I'm living it changes. I hope to be invigorated by the lowest and highest moments of the trip. Everything that happens after Sept. '12 is irrelevant. Oct '11 – Sept. '12 is the only thing that matters right now.
I cannot truly articulate how excited I am to go. Part of the motivation is sheer wanderlust, the thrill of truly immersing myself in authentic culture instead of being herded through the tourist lines. Another is being excited about my strengths truly being utilized. I feel like there will be such a mutual dependancy that occurs between me and my team, and we'll depend on each other's strengths to get us through those tough moments. I cannot wait for those tough moments. I want to be challenged. I want to break.
Support wise, I'm behind. I sent out a large batch of letters, and I'm sending out more in the coming days, but I'm beginning to feel the pressure financially. I'll be keeping running updates of how I'm doing, and recently I received a pledge for $1,000 (wow!) that truly could not be more needed. Roughly $9,500 to go.
