Confession: I never used to read any blogs from people in their last month.
Now that I'm one of those people, I'm trying to remember why the blogs of racers finishing up didn't interest me. Maybe racers slack off on their blogs the last month, which might be the main reason why I don't remember reading very many of them. I can think of plenty of reasons why that might happen:
-You'll be home soon. Blogs don't seem as urgent when you're going to see “your people” in a matter of days instead of months.
-There are a lot of things that are normal by month 11 that would be blogged about month 3. For example, this month I have blogging comedic gold in my experiences with large bugs, ice cold showers, and attempted Spanish speaking. We ride around in a canvas-covered army truck, which is extra fun in heavy rain. We found and destroyed a mouse house as we were cleaning out a garage- brooms flying and people screaming. (I assume the mice were screaming, too, just at a higher pitch than I could hear.) All of these things seem like great blogs topics… at the beginning of the race. But by the end? I'm just picturing how soon I'll be speaking English in a bug-free zone, with access to both a hot shower and a car, and the only mice I will refer to are the toy ones belonging to Superkitty. It's… so… close…
-Even if the internet is available (and, I am super-thankful when it IS available), it's never as good as it is at home. You think writing blogs may be challenging? Oh no, writing them is the EASY part. Just try posting them with poor internet on the less-than-user-friendly World Race blog site. I willingly chose to wash my clothes by hand yesterday over attempting to write and post a blog. (And, I really, really don't like washing my clothes by hand!)
-And, finally, I think Month 11 gets really personal as the reality of “home” hits. My race is different from many others because I'm going home to a fiance and a job and a place to live. But, even with all those “knowns,” there are a lot of “unknowns.” And the unknown is really hard to write about, even though it's what's occupying much of my thought life right now. (And I don't think that's a bad thing. It's just reality.)
So, I guess this is what a blog from a racer in their 11th month looks like. As always, thanks for your love and prayers. =)
We are spending this month at Vision Nicaragua, located in Chinandega. Our hot, sweaty days involve doing manual labor around the property in the mornings and then visiting a local community in the afternoons. (Followed by a delightful cold shower, and mercifully cooler nights. Best sleep I've had on the race!) It's extremely beautiful here, with lots of different birds and (ugh) insects.
This month, I'm starting to see God bring a lot of stuff together spiritually for me, closure for both the race and this entire season in my life. I'm extremely grateful for all of it, although I wouldn't even know how to start writing about it here. So I won't.. at least, I won't right now!
